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FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 




MYSELF IN TURKISH DRESS 



Wore I Kwfc. 



: : from an : : 
eastern embassy 

MEMORIES OF LONDON 
BERLIN <^ THE EAST 
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



PHILADELPHIA 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

LONDON : HERBERT JENKINS LTD. 

1920 






10 

19 



The Mayflower Press, Plymouth, Eng. William Brendon & Son Ltd. 



TO THE MEMORY 
OF 

LUCIEN 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I. Home Life in a Turkish Embassy 

II. Court and Social Life 

III. Midnight Chats . 

IV. Incidents of London Life . 
V. Death of Rustem Pacha 

VI. First Impressions of Berlin 



VII. Making Friends : Some Occult Experiences io 



VIII. German Court Functions 

IX. Increasing Luxury in Berlin 

X. Impressions of Life in Germany . 

XL Memories of Artist Friends : Last Impres 
sions of BerlinjOfficial Life 

XII. Bucharest and cS^tantinople . 

XIII. The Call of the East .... 

XIV. A Turkish Afternoon Call : Farewell to 

the Harem ..... 

XV. Return to London .... 

XVI. Vagaries of Social Life in London 

XVII. Visit to Berlin ..... 

XVIII. The Last Turkish Ambassador to London 
Visit to Berlin and Servia 



25 

4° 

60 

77 
95 



122 
135 

155 

166 
183 

203 

225 
238 
250 
262 



271 
XIX. Last Visit to Constantinople : Final Notes 283 




SEP A,.; 







ILLUSTRATIONS 

Myself in Turkish Dress ..... Frontispiece 

to face page 
My Husband and Son ...... 2 

Rustem Pacha (Count de Marini), Turkish Ambassador 

in London from 1 886-1 895 ..... 6 

One of the Drawing-rooms at the Turkish Embassy in 

Bryanston Square . . . . . -14 

Rustem Pacha's Mother, the Countess de Marini . 50 
Rustem Pacha as a Child ...... 56 

Mandrake Roots sent to Queen Victoria in 1893 • 82 
Rustem Pacha in European Dress . . . .86 

Exterior of the Turkish Embassy at i Bryanston 

Square ........ 90 

Costaki Anthopoulos Pacha„ Turkish Ambassador to 

England in 1896 ....... 92 

Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, Turkish Ambassador in Berlin, 

with his Staff ....... 140 

Princess Helene von Racowitza . . . .170 

The Sultan Abdul Hamid as a Young Man . . 202 

Ihsan Bey ........ 216 

My Son when Attache to the Turkish Embassy in 

1907-1912 ........ 236 

Etienne Musurus Pacha, the last Christian Turkish 

Ambassador to the Court of St. James's . . 246 



FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 






from an :: 
eastern embassy 

CHAPTER I 

HOME LIFE IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 

4T the big round table in the centre of the 
/\ dining-room at the Turkish Embassy 
2. \» in Bryanston Square, the Ambassador, 
Rust em Pacha, his fez a little on one side, pre- 
sided at the luncheon prepared by Aristide, his 
cook, who preferred to be spoken of as the 
" artiste." The imperturbable butler and the 
three footmen seemed oblivious of the curious 
family party which they waited upon there 
daily. 

I was the only woman present, and my place 
was on the right of the Pacha. On his left sat my 
tiny son, his godchild, whom he insisted on 
having next to him every day at luncheon, except 
when guests were present. 

The little face, framed in soft yellow curls, would 
frequently be turned towards the old man, and 
the dark eyes watched him as he peeled his peaches 
at dessert, and dipped them into a glass of port 
before eating them. 



2 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

On my right sat the first secretary, a dreamy, 
taciturn man, with mournful Oriental counte- 
nance, not unlike that of his namesake the 
Sultan Abdul Hamid. His thoughts were prob- 
ably upon a translation of Shakespeare into 
Turkish upon which he was engaged, or perhaps 
busy with some of those charming and graceful 
poems which, later, became Turkish classics, to 
be recited in the schools at Stamboul. 

Next to him sat Chekib Bey, the second secre- 
tary. He had a round, cherubic face and anxious 
eyes full of psychic dyspepsia. He seemed to 
have been born middle-aged, and worried a great 
deal about possible ailments, whilst consuming 
his food with solemn deliberation. 

Beside him sat the Naval attache, a bluff, 
rubicund man, fond of discussing his various 
missions to different Consulates in England, and 
to different ports, in order to purchase ships for 
the Ottoman Navy. The Imam in his priestly 
turban, sat between the Naval attache and the 
newly-arrived third secretary, who wore a monocle 
in his left eye, and whose languid glance would 
wander with a puzzled expression from one face 
to another, resting finally upon my husband, 
the Councillor, sitting between him and the 
child. 

My husband's French nationality was apparent 
at a glance, in spite of the red fez he always wore 
in common with all Turkish officials. He was 
a member of the old French nobility, of the 
family of the Comtes de Sauville and of Baron 
Rey, one of Napoleon's generals who figures in 
one of the battle pictures at Versailles. Born 
in Paris, where he was educated, he later on went 
to America. At the time of which I write he had 




MY HUSBAND AND SON 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 3 

collaborated with the Ambassador for over thirty 
years, and had become his right hand. 

He first joined him at Florence as private 
secretary when quite a young man. He often 
talked of the delightful days he spent in the then 
capital of Italy, of the interesting daily life, of 
the picnics made with various English friends, 
among whom were the famous Colonel Burnaby 
and his sister, Mrs. Manners-Sutton. 

Later, he was officially attached to the Lega- 
tion, and accompanied his chief in all his subse- 
quent missions, promotion following in the usual 
routine. 

When the post of Ambassador to London was 
offered to Rustem Pacha, my husband was on the 
point of accompanying the famous Ghazi Mouk- 
thar Pacha in an official capacity to Egypt. But 
as Rustem Pacha would not accept the portfolio 
to London unless joined by my husband as 
Councillor, he refused the advantageous and 
lucrative Egyptian post in order to remain with 
his lifelong friend and chief. 

Most of the higher diplomatic functionaries of 
Turkey were foreigners. The Ambassador, the 
Italian Count de Marini, adopted the name of 
Rustem (the Glorious) when he entered the 
Turkish service as a young man under the famous 
Fuad Pacha. During his long lifetime he repre- 
sented his Imperial Master with distinction in 
various great capitals of Europe, and before being 
appointed to the Court of St. James's, he was for 
ten years Governor-General of the Lebanon, a 
post subject to the election and approval of the 
six Great Powers of Europe. 

Although in my native land, I often imagined 
myself to be in some Far Eastern city. Racial 



4 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

instincts and prejudices, dating from the nursery, 
although unvoiced, seemed ever-present when all 
the members of that cosmopolitan Embassy were 
gathered together. 

Conversation at meals was practically nil, for 
the Pacha, who in some respects was plus turc 
que les Turcs, preferred the younger officials not 
to talk unless he first addressed them. In Turkey 
age is venerated more than anywhere else, and 
youth defers to it as a matter of course. 

He would tap his wine glass with his fore- 
finger, whereupon the servant standing behind 
his chair promptly refilled it. He glanced ap- 
provingly at his little godson as he placed a 
quarter of an unbaptized peach upon the child's 
plate. 

" His manners are so good he could eat at the 
Queen's table ! " he would sometimes say. 

When we rose from table a little soft hand 
would be slipped into mine, after the Pacha had 
solemnly offered me his arm, and we three passed 
the secretaries grouped near the door. The 
Ambassador's slight bow they would acknowledge 
with the graceful temena, bending the hand 
towards the ground before touching lips and 
forehead (I kiss the ground on which you walk). 

My husband would accompany us up the broad 
staircase while the others turned down the passage 
to the right of the dining-room leading to the 
Chancery. 

On the landing a large stuffed bear, standing 
erect on a wooden pedestal, mounted guard over 
the entrance to the spacious drawing-rooms 
facing the Square. The Pacha was fond of 
telling the story of that bear, which in 1870 
clawed him, and ate two of his fingers, when, as 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 5 

Ambassador to Russia under Alexander II, he 
took part in the Court hunting expeditions. 

Crossing the rooms we would pass over to that 
portion which was arranged as the Pacha's 
sitting-room. Here he had collected his personal 
belongings, a number of books, a large propor- 
tion of which were French and Italian novels, 
trophies of arms, and ancient accoutrements dis- 
played upon red shields, quantities of ladies' 
photographs in silver and platinum frames, and 
a curious, large, transparent glass clock, hung 
before a square of black velvet. This horloge 
mysterieuse, the works of which are hidden in the 
hands, was invariably noticed by visitors, who 
wondered how it worked, and were always told 
that it was wound up by Phcebus Apollo. 

The window niche contained a large aviary of 
little green parrots and other exotic birds, which 
the Pacha amused himself by feeding with meal- 
worms, things I particularly disliked. 

The rooms, furnished by the Turkish Govern- 
ment, were all panelled in white stucco, the big 
white folding doors being always open. Tall 
mirrors and big fires at each end added to the 
spaciousness of the apartments. There was in 
their manner of decoration little suggestive of 
the East. Flowered Wilton-pile carpets, divans 
and sofas in loose flowered cretonne covers, 
tables covered with photographs, and silver and 
china ornaments. Large old-fashioned glass 
chandeliers were suspended from the ceilings ; 
the only touch of colour upon the walls was 
given by life-sized portraits in oils of all the 
Sultans of recent years. That of Abdul Hamid 
was painted from memory by a famous French 
artist, who for several weeks watched him when 



6 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

he went to and fro to the Selamlik for his Friday 
devotions. The picture was a curiosity in its 
way, as the Turks have a prejudice against por- 
traits from life. There is a saying amongst them 
that part of their soul passes into each picture. 

After luncheon we would stand chatting for 
a few minutes, when my husband would go down 
to his office to superintend work that must be 
ready for signature for the afternoon mail. 

After feeding the birds, the Pacha would go to 
his large, square writing-table facing the window, 
and with a sigh seat himself in his round-backed, 
leather arm-chair. Taking up a dispatch left 
there for perusal, he would soon fall fast asleep. 
He was long past the age when British diplo- 
matists retire. He was seventy-six when he 
received his portfolio to London. In spite of his 
advanced years his mind was singularly clear. 
His intimate knowledge of European politics and 
Eastern methods caused him to play a consider- 
able role in diplomacy until the day of his death. 

While he was in dreamland, the child and I 
would curl up in the corner of a sofa in the centre 
room, where I watched the expression in the dark 
eyes grow rapt and mysterious as I led him down 
the realms of fancy to the " Land beyond the 
Blue Mountains." 

Then a door from the end-room would open, a 
footman would enter to replenish the fires, and I 
would sign to him not to go into the Pacha's 
room until he awakened. He, in turn, would 
tell the Turkish valet, who must always be within 
earshot of the Pacha's summoning hand-clap, and 
whose life seemed chiefly to be passed waiting on 
landings. 

About three o'clock I would take the child 




RUSTEM PACHA (COUNT DE MARINl), TURKISH AMBASSADOR IN LONDON 
FROM l886 — 1895 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 7 

upstairs to his governess for the customary walk 
in the Park, while I would go down to my hus- 
band's office to help him for a few hours, either 
by writing dispatches at his dictation, or by 
translating into French Gladstone's speeches, 
which were sent to the Porte in the Comptes 
rendus. It was not an easy task to give an accu- 
rate foreign rendering of the famous documents, 
as a point dwelt upon in one paragraph was so 
often modified or even contradicted in the next. 

Correspondence with the Porte was mostly in 
French. On every Embassy staff there are always 
one or two of the personnel who work, and several 
who do not ; the latter rely upon making a career 
by being purely ornamental. The Turkish secre- 
taries at our Embassy were certainly not over- 
burdened with work, and had little or nothing to 
do with the French dispatches, which were left 
entirely to my husband. When Turkish ones 
were sent or received, the first secretary was 
summoned to the Ambassador's room, where they 
were read and discussed, and afterwards copied in 
the Chancery. 

Hamid Bey would sit to the right of the Pacha's 
desk, and read aloud from the foolscap covered 
with Turkish script running from left to right, 
while the Pacha sat back in his chair, elbows on 
the side, and finger-tips lightly pressed together. 
His eyes were usually fixed on the window while 
he listened attentively to the phrases, which, to 
one not knowing the language, sounded singularly 
soft and musical. 

Then discussion of various points followed — 
the Pacha conversing in Turkish ; a word or two 
would be written with the wooden Turkish quill 
on the manuscript resting on the reader's knee ; 



8 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

ceremonious bows would be exchanged, and 
Hamid Bey would then rise and retire to recoup 
from these strenuous exertions. 

For half a century the representative of the 
Sultan of Turkey at the Court of St. James's had 
been a foreigner and a Christian. The post 
seemed indeed almost a monopoly of the Greek 
family of Musurus, who preceded Rustem Pacha. 
Madame Musurus died while returning from a 
Court Ball, and after her death the honours of 
the Embassy were done by her three daughters, 
who were very English in their ideas and sym- 
pathies. 

A son of Musurus Pacha came to London after 
the death of Costaki Anthopoulos Pacha, who 
succeeded Rustem. He also was of Greek extrac- 
tion. 

It was part of Abdul Hamid's diplomacy to 
choose most carefully his representatives to Euro- 
pean capitals, especially his Ambassadors to 
England, and to keep them at their posts as long 
as possible. It was the most difficult thing for a 
Turkish Ambassador to obtain leave of absence. 
Many of them died in harness, acting under orders 
of little varying policy, which left but scanty 
scope for personal initiative. 

Viewed from the peephole of an Eastern Em- 
bassy, Society life in London was interesting and 
varied, and sometimes the less prominent officials 
obtained a more complete bird's-eye view of it 
than the principals. 

In the Victorian days we attended all the 
Drawing-rooms, State balls, concerts, and Garden 
parties of the season, which began about the end 
of February, and ended about the middle of July. 
The first Drawing-room was usually held in 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 9 

bitterly cold weather at three o'clock in the 
afternoon. The gala coach with the coachman in 
knee-breeches and cocked-hat, adorned with the 
Turkish red and green cockade, and the two tall 
powdered footmen, also in knee-breeches, strap- 
hanging behind, drew up at the Embassy shortly 
after two o'clock. 

In this chariot, swinging to and fro in a manner 
suggestive of a ship at sea, the Ambassador, my 
husband and I were driven down Great Cumber- 
land Place, through the Marble Arch and the 
Parks to the private entrance at Buckingham 
Palace. 

Leaving our cloaks in the long corridor of the 
entree, we mounted the wide staircase, beautifully 
decorated with flowers and plants, to the room 
next the Presence Chamber, where the corps 
diplomatique assembled previous to the opening 
of the Drawing-room. Here the map of the world 
seemed indicated in the various uniforms and 
national dresses. The Austro-Hungarian and 
Russian Ambassadors often looked very pictur- 
esque in bright velvet trains heavily embroidered 
with gold or trimmed with fur. The wife and 
daughter of the Chinese Minister appeared in 
Court robes of their country, and were accom- 
modated with seats on account of their tiny 
feet. 

Conversation was very animated until the doors 
opened and the Foreign Secretary and his wife 
passed into the Throne Room, when the Ambassa- 
dresses, with the ladies of their Embassies, were 
named in order of precedence. 

We all remained in the Throne Room, standing 
in the embrasure of a window to the right of the 
Royal dais and facing the door of entrance. The 



io FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Ambassadors and their secretaries then passed 
the Queen and took up their positions, standing 
behind a row of officials facing the Royal party. 
The Queen, who nearly always wore black, re- 
ceived standing in front of an armchair placed in 
the centre of the dais, and usually left at the end 
of an hour, when her place was taken by the 
Princess of Wales. Her benevolent, motherly 
smile at the nervousness of debutantes, who were 
privileged to kiss her hand, has lived in the hearts 
of many who have now reached distant milestones 
of life. 

Although it was very amusing to watch the 
people enter and file past, it was also very fatiguing 
to stand through a long Drawing-room which 
sometimes lasted for over three hours. 

At one of these functions, while snow was 
falling in the Quadrangle outside, and many of 
the ladies in the window niche had drawn their 
trains over their shoulders for protection from 
the draught, Lady Salisbury whispered with a 
smile : "It will be a long Drawing-room, and I 
am glad that I put on two pairs of stockings, and 
elastic-side boots." 

I glanced down to try and see the effect, but 
her black satin heavily beaded skirt touched the 
ground and effectually hid her feet. 

When Miss Cornwallis West married Prince 
Pless, her appearance at one of the Drawing- 
rooms evoked great admiration. Her slender 
blonde beauty was the cynosure of all eyes — and 
many people at the time deplored the fact that 
she had married a German. 

The twilight fell early, and the lights from the 
big glass chandeliers gleamed softly in those 
pre-electric days, lending a subdued brilliancy to 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY n 

the scene. When the last guest had passed, we 
were free to join our men folk and return home to 
tea. No refreshments were ever offered at the 
Palace in those days of austere dignity and 
stately repose, a detail which implied that pre- 
sentation was considered chiefly as an act of 
homage, and did not necessarily imply admission 
to Court entertainments. 

The Pacha was always very tired after these 
functions, and his heavily embroidered uniform, 
covered with decorations, seemed too weighty 
for his frail body. He usually tried to avoid 
evening engagements for these dates. The Turkish 
secretaries were most interested in the splendour 
of the Court functions, for to the Eastern mind 
ceremony is the language of power. They talked 
of the whole picture of uniforms and decorations, 
of womens' jewels and their beauty, and wished 
it could be wafted to the Bosphorus for the 
delectation of their Imperial Master. 

At the State balls and concerts we had reserved 
seats to the left of the Royal dais, and it was 
most interesting to watch the various foreign 
potentates assembled there on different occasions. 
The ball programme contained about twenty 
dances, twelve of which were waltzes, the others 
being quadrilles, polkas and lancers. Much of 
the dance music was by German composers : 
Millocker, Strauss, Waldteufel, etc. Beginning 
at eleven these balls lasted until about one o'clock, 
there being an interval for supper. In the supper- 
room, where the famous gold plate hung upon 
red cloth on the walls, hot soup and a cold buffet 
were served at three long tables placed T-fashion. 
At intervals down the centre of these tables stood 
dishes containing charming little souvenir boxes 



12 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

in hand-painted silk, filled with bon-bons. These 
were taken away by the guests. 

At the first ball I attended, General Bourtouline, 
of the Russian Embassy, and Captain Seymour, a 
Queen's messenger, showed me the different 
State apartments and pointed out objects of 
interest. I danced several of the dances with my 
brother, a British officer, a fact which caused my 
husband to be questioned by a friend as to the 
identity of my assiduous cavalier ! Even State 
balls are not above the breath of scandal. 

Then there were the State concerts. Here all 
the guests were seated on scarlet and gold benches 
placed in rows down each side of the ballroom, 
which was 139 feet long. The artists' platform 
was erected at one end of the room below the 
musicians' gallery, and faced the Royal dais at 
the other end. 

One had to be at the concerts in good time, to 
take one's allotted place before the arrival of 
the Royalties, upon whose entrance into the ball- 
room everybody rose to respond to their greetings. 

The first gracious bow was accorded to the 
diplomatic body, whose places were to the left of 
the Royal dais. This was acknowledged by deep 
curtseys on the part of the ladies, and deep bows 
from the Ambassadors and their personnel. The 
second was for the duchesses and members of the 
highest nobility, whose seats were placed to the 
right of the platform — and so forth. 

One evening when these formalities were over, 
and the Royal party seated on the platform prior 
to the commencement of the programme, the 
Duchess of Leinster arrived, and halted at the 
door with a deprecating glance in their direction. 

The Princess of Wales made a gracious little 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 13 

movement, and the charming and beautiful 
duchess, then at the height of her ethereal beauty, 
.crossed the room — made a deep curtsey before 
the platform, and took her seat in her allotted 
place. It was an ordeal which only a woman 
of her consummate grace could have trans- 
formed into an incident unforgettable by all 
who watched her. Not long afterwards she died, 
a victim of the malady which even then had 
painted " churchyard roses " on her cheeks. 

At these delightful functions, now obsolete, I 
have heard at different times, Albani, Lloyd, 
Eames, Ben Davies, Edouard de Reszke, Calve, 
Guilia Ravogli, Santley, Clara Butt, Mademoiselle 
Landi, Alvarez, Plancon, and other great artists. 

Court etiquette did not permit applause. The 
nearest approach to it which I heard was at the 
State concert of July 15th, 1887, when a young 
Swedish singer, Sigrid Arnoldson, sang. Her 
birdlike trills, rising in pure soprano ever higher 
and higher, were followed by a rustling of pro- 
grammes, general movement, and mild clapping 
of hands. 

Madame Albani was always a great favourite, 
and when the Princess of Wales stopped the supper 
procession to thank the artistes, she was always 
singled out, when present, for especial notice. The 
diplomatists waiting en queue behind, were in full 
view of the guests on either side, and freely dis- 
cussed during the interim. 

Among the Embassies of the Great Powers 
la diplomatie sauvage et des pays chauds was 
spoken of with a certain amount of condescension. 
Our Ambassador, ever anxious to uphold the 
prestige of the monarch he represented, would 
never admit that he could be included, even 



14 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

remotely, in that category. His dinner parties 
and balls held their own with any of the most 
brilliant social functions of the time. 

For the first large dinner party he gave in 
London, he decided to get the whole of the menu 
from Chevet's in Paris. After it was ordered we 
all wondered whether bad weather in the channel 
would cause any hitch in the arrangements. 
Chevet had sent dinners to most of the great 
capitals of Europe, but this venture across the 
channel was regarded as a little risky. However, 
Neptune was propitious, and by an early boat an 
army of cooks, supervised by a major-domo, 
arrived at the Embassy, bringing large trunks 
containing their own batterie de cuisine, and deli- 
cate dishes in various stages of preparation. The 
kitchens were given up to them, and the menu 
evolved from their culinary efforts was much 
talked of in London at the time. 

The round table in the dining-room was 
lengthened to an oblong, capable of seating 
twenty-six people. Florists arrived about six 
o'clock to decorate it in the Turkish national 
colours — red and green — with quantities of deep 
red roses, trails of smilax, and delicate ferns. 
These were woven in and out the tall silver 
candelabra and epergnes which are the official 
Embassy table decorations. The Marquess and 
Marchioness of Salisbury and various diplomatic 
colleagues were the chief guests. 

At these official dinner parties politics were 
rarely touched upon, but I have often been 
amused at the skilful sleight of tongue exercised 
by foreign representatives, when any of the 
secrets which they carried in petto happened to 
be touched upon. The French Ambassador was 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 15 

fond of chatting with my husband on their 
mutual hobby — Numismatics. M. Waddington's 
coin collection is, of course, world famous. My 
husband's more modest one of all the Seleucide 
kings of Syria was unusual and interesting. He 
had collected it during his ten years' sojourn in 
the Lebanon, when he was there with Rustem 
Pacha during his Governorship. He found great 
recreation in classifying these coins in the pierced 
trays in the drawers of his coin chest, and had 
necklaces and bracelets made for his friends from 
duplicates. 

The Embassy dinner parties were sometimes 
followed by a reception, but these were never 
very large. The spacious ballroom overlooking 
Upper George Street was thrown open only once 
or twice, when the Ambassador was prevailed 
upon to give a ball to his numerous women 
friends. He always received at the head of the 
Grand staircase, and many people will remember 
him as he stood there in fez and stambouline, all 
smiles and amiability, for he loved nothing more 
than entertaining his friends. After the departure 
of the guests he talked everything over with us, 
and not a detail of dress, or facial expression 
seemed to have escaped him. 

On the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee in 1887 
a special Turkish mission was sent to London to 
represent the Sultan. 

At its head was the aged Ali Nizami Pacha, 
who was so ill and feeble, that, during the greater 
part of his stay, he rarely left his hotel or even 
his bed. He told us that he did his best to evade 
being sent to London on account of ill-health, 
which would prevent him from doing himself 
full justice as Special Envoy. In answer to his 



16 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

plea, he was informed that his Imperial Master 
admitted no excuse of illness. So he rose from a 
bed of sickness to come to England, and was 
accompanied by his son, Osman Bey, who later 
on, as Osman Nizami Pacha, occupied the post 
of Turkish Ambassador in Berlin. 

He was a kindly, courteous Oriental of the old 
school, and belonged to the Turkey that is passing 
away. On the few occasions when he came to 
the Embassy, he spoke with affection of his 
Austrian wife, who had remained at home, and 
of the pleasure it gave him to watch his children 
and grandchildren grow up in the peaceful seclu- 
sion of the old seraglio on the Bosphorus. 

Other members of the mission were deeply 
interested in the wonderful Jubilee ceremony at 
Westminster Abbey. Nubar Pacha had arrived 
from Egypt, and I drove with him in an open 
carriage in the procession to the Abbey. He was 
loud in his praises of England and everything 
English, and when leaving the historic pile after 
the ceremony, he stood watching the Queen, 
who was accompanied by the Princess Imperial 
of Germany, and the Princess of Wales, enter her 
carriage drawn by eight horses. He thought that 
the Scotch livery of the two servants seated at 
the back of the carriage was rather like the Greek 
Albanian dress. 

We had been given places in the gallery re- 
served for the corps diplomatique, and the wonder- 
ful ceremony so fully described in the chronicles 
of the day, was one never to be forgotten by any 
of those who were privileged to assist at it. Among 
all the representatives of foreign Powers who 
knelt in the church below, the beautiful pale face 
of the Russian Grand Duchess Serge has always 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 17 

remained in my memory. The tragedy of her 
life was clearly written there. 

The Grand Duchess Serge, Princess Elizabeth 
of Hesse, was the sister of the ex-Czarina, and 
resembled her very much in the clear cut of 
features and expression of countenance. She 
suffered during the whole of her married life from 
the rough treatment of her husband, and it was 
an open secret that physical violence and want 
of consideration in every form on his part did 
much to embitter her existence. 

When the Czar named his uncle and brother-in- 
law to the post of Governor-General in Moscow, 
it was a difficult one to fill, as his predecessor, the 
venerable Prince Dolgorouky, who had been in 
office for so many years, had endeared himself 
to the Muscovites by his fatherly kindness and 
interest in their welfare. Therefore, the Grand 
Duke Serge's want of tact, harshness, and arro- 
gance, coupled with his haughty treatment of the 
people, offended all those whose favour he should 
have tried to win. 

I The Grand Duchess, however, charmed them 
by her gentleness and sympathy, and she gained 
the affection of the Russians to the extent of 
being known as the " Queen of Moscow." When 
her husband was killed, many people thought 
it was a matter for congratulation, as far as she 
was concerned. Her popularity, however, did not 
last, as her German origin, and marked German 
sympathies later on, turned the tide of public 
feeling to detestation. 

p The Holy Synod protested against her intro- 
ducing the German custom of establishing Homes 
for Deaconesses in Russia, when she herself 
became a deaconess. It was not in accordance 



18 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

with the religious customs of the country, and 
this act, coupled with others equally tactless, at 
last made her position in Russia a most unenviable 
one. 

She brought the proverbial Hessian ill-luck to 
the House of Romanoff, and when one remembers 
the fate of her husband and her brother-in-law 
the Czar, and compares it with the violent end 
of Paul I and Alexander II, both of whom had 
Hessian Princesses for consorts, one cannot 
wonder that the entire Russian people look upon 
that German House as a bird of ill-omen. 

After her husband was killed in Moscow in 
I 9°5 by a bomb thrown by the anarchist Kadaeff, 
she tried to interest the Czar and Czarina in 
occultism, which she herself studied with much 
enthusiasm. The two sisters, both of rather 
morbid tendencies, were an easy prey to the 
peasant priests who practised hypnotism and 
even occupied themselves with black magic. 

The effect of this was seen in the undue influ- 
ence of Rasputin, whose story and violent end are 
so well known. 

My husband, who as a young man had been for 
some years attached to the Turkish Embassy in 
St. Petersburg, often told me of the seances 
held in Court circles there by Hume, and the 
influence he had over the Czar's predecessor. 

My husband was always very sceptical about 
occult phenomena, but confessed that Hume's 
performances filled him with astonishment. He 
believed they were chiefly based on prestidigitation 
and the possession of extraordinary personal 
magnetism. He has seen people with head and 
feet just barely resting on chairs stiffen and 
become impervious to pin pricks and blows, and 



TN A TURKISH EMBASSY iq 

the body lifted in this cataleptic condition into 
mid-air, following the magnetism of Hume's out- 
stretched fingers. He also saw an arm-chair in 
which a woman friend of his was seated, trans- 
ported bodily from the ground-floor to an upper 
story of the house. Knocks, ringing of bells, 
violent noises attributed to Polter-geiste, were of 
common occurrence, and chords struck in a 
closed and locked piano were heard at the com- 
mand of the medium. Hume's followers were 
legion. A wave of mysticism swept the Court, 
and only diminished when he finally fell into 
disgrace and was banished from the capital. 

The members of the Turkish mission all agreed 
that the " business of pleasure " of the social life 
of London was no trivial matter, but a question 
of hard work. They never ceased to wonder at 
the endurance of delicately nurtured high-born 
ladies who drove at night from one crowded part}/ - 
to another, either to be half killed in trying to 
penetrate the masses of humanity on the stair- 
cases, or to remain in solitary glory in their 
carriages, realising the impossibility of attempt- 
ing to reach their hostess. 

The special Envoys returned to their native 
land more than ever convinced that the lives led 
by their own women folk were far more in accord- 
ance with nature's original design for the happiness 
of the female species. 

We all went to the Naval Review held at Spit- 
head, and were sent down from London to Ports- 
mouth in special trains, and taken to the different 
ships as guests of honour. The imposing sight 
of the noble line of warships made a great impres- 
sion on all the members of the Mission, who made 
copious notes for subsequent official reports. On 



20 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

previous occasions, when men had been sent from 
Constantinople to London to negotiate the pur- 
chase of ships for the Ottoman Navy, the result 
had been so pitiful that they were now convinced 
the buyers must have cultivated a special talent 
for picking out " duds." 

My husband and I spent a delightful day on 
board the Plassy, which had been reserved for 
conveying a portion of the corps diplomatique up 
and down the lines. The officers on board ex- 
plained different points of interest, and were most 
courteous and kind. Admiral Roust an, the French 
Naval attache, was particularly interested in all 
details, and I noticed that his professional atten- 
tion did not flag all day long, in spite of his 
assiduous attentions to his women friends — with 
whom he was a great favourite. He chatted 
gaily with the Countess d'Aubigny, Madame de 
Zuluetta, and myself. He brought us sandwiches 
and hock cup, after finding us comfortable seats 
in a corner of the deck, but the eye of his mind 
was evidently photographing every naval detail 
for transmission to his Government. Luncheon 
and tea had been provided for the guests, but 
there was no question of dinner, as we were 
supposed to arrive home in time for this meal. 
We were, however, unable, owing to miscalcula- 
tions regarding time and tide, to land until late 
at night, and it was three o'clock next morning 
when we reached London, very hungry and tired. 
The Ambassador had arrived home much earlier, 
and was wondering what had happened to us, as 
the ship which had taken the chefs de mission 
had returned punctually to harbour. 

Among the public functions of that year the 
foundation stone of the Imperial Institute was 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 21 

laid on July 4th by the Queen, in the presence of 
ten thousand people. It was to be a Memorial 
of the Jubilee of Her Majesty's reign, and to 
serve as a receptacle for samples of every kind 
of Indian and Colonial art. At the same time it 
was to be a Museum, an Exhibition, and a locality 
where Indian and Colonial subjects could be 
freely discussed. 

Five years later, a reception was held in con- 
nection with the informal opening of the building. 
In 1893 twenty thousand invitations were issued 
in the names of the Prince and Princess of Wales 
for an evening party there, to commence at nine 
o'clock. Shortly before eight, the main approaches 
to the edifice were blocked with carriages, one of 
the files extending half-way across Hyde Park. 

A buffet nearly three hundred yards long was 
erected in the North Gallery, and here four hun- 
dred girls in mob caps and " Institute " aprons, 
served light refreshments. Over forty thousand 
sandwiches and thirty thousand ices were dis- 
pensed during the evening. Cake and strawberries 
and cream were consumed by the ton, and several 
hundred gallons of claret cup and champagne 
were drunk. In the spacious dining-rooms up- 
stairs three thousand suppers, ordered by the 
consumers, were served. All this sounds like the 
Football Final at the Crystal Palace, nevertheless, 
these details were sent to Constantinople in one 
of the Reports, as, although non-political, they 
were considered to be useful in conveying an idea 
of the vastness and ramification of social life in 
London. 

I remember that the dresses worn on that 
occasion were of the most varied description. 
Several of the guests who had arrived from the 



22 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

country appeared in travelling costumes and 
bonnets, others wore evening dress with hats, 
others again red or white opera cloaks over 
morning gowns. Side by side with these were 
many London ladies wearing full evening dress 
and jewels. 

Many people will doubtless recall the appear- 
ance of " Her Royal Blackness " Queen, Kapio- 
lani, of the Sandwich Islands, who, with her 
sister, Princess Liliokalani, were among the Royal 
visitors to London during the Jubilee year, when 
they drove through the London Parks in open 
carriages with the servants in the English Royal 
red liveries. 

We were at a reception given in the dusky 
Queen's honour at the Hawaiian Legation in 
Hyde Park Gate, by the charge d'affaires, Mr. 
Sidney Francis Hoffnung, who married a daughter 
of Lady Goldsmid. 

The Queen sat on a dais en grand' decollete 
blazing with jewels, and took herself quite 
seriously in the role of reigning sovereign. Various 
members of la grande diplomatic, Madame Wad- 
dington among others, were asked to stand in 
circle behind her while the guests were introduced, 
and filed past after curtseying in the same manner 
as at a Drawing-room. 

The Hawaiian national hymn, a curious minor 
chant, was played during the ceremony. The 
expression on the faces of the ladies behind Her 
Majesty was a sight not easily to be forgotten! 
I had a long interpreted conversation with her. 
She appeared to be enchanted with all she had 
seen in England, and invited me to visit her if 
ever ray wanderings should take me in the 
direction of her distant kingdom. 



IN A TURKISH EMBASSY 23 

The official parties of that year were crowded 
with members of foreign missions and included 
many Ro}/al personages, exotic and otherwise. 

The Shah, who had arrived in London by water, 
and with his suite occupied Dorchester House, 
amused a great many people by the open manner 
in which he discussed the appearance of many 
well-known London beauties. A woman over 
twenty was spoken of by him asa" monster." 

The manners and customs of the members of 
the Shah's suite were a revelation in the matter 
of Persian table etiquette, and so different from 
the impression gained from intercourse with the 
Shah's Envoy, Prince Malcolm Khan and his wife 
and daughter, Princess Sultane Malcolm, who 
were familiar figures in London for so many years. 

I was privileged to see the diary of one of these 
Far-Eastern visitors. It contained impressions 
of ladies well known in the social world, who 
would, no doubt, have been greatly surprised had 
they known what mental registration of them- 
selves lay behind the impassive manner of their 
guests. 

One hostess, whose amiability was proverbial, 
was described thus : " She is large and square, 
her laugh is like the cackle of a hen that has been 
trodden upon, her hair does not grow upon her 
head, and her voice resembles the tone of an old 
drum beaten for the amusement of old men." 

They marvelled at English ladies' dresses, and 
took back various specimens to be kept at home 
as curiosities. 

From a woman's point of view it was certainly 
interesting to watch the little innovations and 
changes in Court dress and fashion as the years 
succeeded each other. 



24 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

One Season trains were fastened in the centre 
of the bodice, their heading spreading out above 
it in the form of a fan. There were Watteau 
trains, square trains, round ones, trains thick 
and thin. One year they were heavily embroidered 
in silk or tinsel flowers, the linings as beautiful 
and costly as the outside texture. I remember 
one made of mandarin-coloured velvet trimmed 
with birds of Paradise, and another of white silk 
lined with flame-coloured velvet. For several 
years flowers were worn as edging and trimming 
of dresses, and one year bouquets of natural 
flowers were mixed with long ostrich feathers. 
Worn with these were bodices with long basques 
reaching to the knees, others with paniers. Some- 
times bodice and Court trains were cut in one, 
and gave very graceful curves to slim figures. 

If one glances at the varying decrees of fashion, 
and brings one's mind to the present day, one 
cannot help wondering whether the first Court 
functions to be held after the War will counten- 
ance the scanty draperies which just now serve 
rather to reveal than to drape the human frame. 



CHAPTER II 

COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 

THE men of our Embassy were compelled 
to wear the fez when attending Society 
functions, and a great many people 
had no idea that a Western head was very often 
inside an Eastern covering. It was a useful 
landmark for me in crowded gatherings, as it 
enabled me always to identify my husband, who 
was the tallest wearer of the picturesque scarlet 
cap with its black tassel. 

We have often laughed at an incident which 
occurred when we were on the way to one of the 
Easter banquets at the Mansion House. Our 
carriage, unable to cut the file in spite of the 
coachman's card, was waiting in the long, slowly 
advancing queue. Suddenly, a befeathered White- 
chapel lady took umbrage at the sight of the fez, 
put her head inside the carriage window, and 
violently shook her fist at it, calling out angrily : 
" Come out, you lazy devil ! " 

My husband pulled up the windows, but she 
followed our snail-like progress with lowering 
glances and very audible imprecations. The 
impression of her senseless ire was with me, when 
at last our names were roared out at the entrance 
of the reception-room. Here the Lord Mayor in 
his robes of State stood with the Lady Mayoress, 

25 



26 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

the Sheriffs, Aldermen, Mace and Sword-Bearer, 
while the numerous guests were presented and 
hied past the majesty of Civic power. 

That evening the Lord Mayor escorted the wife 
of the Bishop of London to the Banqueting-Hall, 
the Lady Mayoress following on the arm of the 
Duke of Cambridge. Precedence was fixed by 
table plan, the centre board being reserved for 
official and diplomatic guests. Husbands and 
wives were placed side by side. 

We were quite near the Civic chair, and could 
observe all the details of the ceremony. During 
the banquet, which lasted three hours, endless 
toasts were proposed. The stentorian voice of the 
toastmaster rang out almost deafeningly just 
behind us. Appropriate music and songs were 
performed after each toast, " Rocked in the 
Cradle of the Deep," for instance, accompanying 
the one for the Army and Navy. 

After bowls of rose-water were served at the 
end of the dinner, and the guests stood up two by 
two to drink from the loving cup, Rustem Pacha 
glanced apprehensively at it, and smiled at me. 
Before leaving the Embassy he had told me a 
friend had informed him that the rdtelier of an 
aged official had once dropped into the huge silver 
goblet, causing consternation to both guests and 
servants who happened to be near him. 

The big official parties at the Foreign Office 
were always interesting. We tried to arrive early, 
and secure a place on the landing, from which 
we could watch all the celebrities of the hour 
mount the noble bifurcated staircase, at the head 
of which the wife of the Prime Minister stood to 
receive the guests. 

Knowing all the secrets of the Embassy, I had 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 27 

to be always on my guard. At one of the Foreign 
Office parties I was taken unawares and behaved 
rather foolishly. A certain official, Mr. O., 
recently returned from Constantinople, sat chat- 
ting with me in the big reception-room which led 
to the supper-room. He was a materialist by 
instinct, and prided himself on his knowledge of 
women. He thought every one of us devoid of 
discretion. 

In the course of conversation he asked me 
suddenly if I had copied the letters relative to the 
Stamp business with which he was connected, as 
he thought he recognised my hand-writing. 

If I had reflected for a moment, I should have 
known that he could not possibly recognise it, 
as he had never seen it, but I fell into the trap, 
and acknowledged that I had copied them, 
realising at that same moment that the contents 
of them were very much in opposition to his 
policy. He stopped the conversation abruptly 
when my husband joined us and gave up his 
place to the Countess d'Aubigny, who amused 
me very much with her sarcastic remarks on the 
various people who hurried past her in the search 
for food. She was always surrounded by clever 
men, and when her shadow of the moment 
claimed her, my husband and I agreed that she 
was one of the most interesting women it was 
possible to meet. 

In spite of her numerous social duties she 
always managed to fit into the full daj/s one 
thing or another which appealed to her intellectual 
or artistic tastes. That afternoon she had been 
to a literary lecture given by Mademoiselle Blaze 
de Bury, and while discussing it we touched upon 
the question of a French translation of Goethe, 



28 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

which I had ridiculed, and which she considered 
extremely good. 

She laughed whilst speaking of the wife of one 
of her husband's colleagues, whose sole ambition 
was to be spoken of as dining out every night, 
and who, rather than remain " ignominiously " 
at home, invited herself to one house or another 
when she happened to have an evening dis- 
engaged. 

At another of the Foreign Office receptions, the 
guest of the evening was Prince Ferdinand of 
Bulgaria, then a vassal of Turkey. This, his 
first visit to London, had given rise to certain 
discussions at the Embassy. The Prince had 
recently been promoted from being a cavalry 
officer in Austria to his present dignity. He was 
the true son of his Bourbon mother, Princess 
Clementine of Orleans, wife of a Coburg Prince of 
the Austrian branch, who was notably one of the 
most ambitious women of Europe. He resembled 
her both in appearance and disposition. 

He was received by Lord and Lady Salisbury, 
and, with the latter, headed the procession to the 
supper-room, followed by certain members of 
the diplomatic body and other guests. An 
attache, with outstretched arms, walked back- 
wards before him to clear a way through the 
crowd. No royalties were present on this occa- 
sion, and Rustem Pacha was conspicuous by his 
absence. 

The question of precedence would have made 
the placement de table very difficult. Rustem 
Pacha was very touchy about these matters, and 
the visits both of Ismail Pacha, ex-Khedive of 
Egypt, and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who 
were both vassals of Turkey, called upon all his 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 29 

tact to manage a difficult situation. On one occa- 
sion he left the Foreign Office before supper, as 
he was not satisfied with his seat. 

Later on when he became doyen in London, the 
question of precedence arose in connection with 
a Drawing-room. The Turkish Embassy was 
first on the diplomatic list, but the Ambassador 
was unmarried, and had no daughter. An official 
from the Foreign Office came to the Embassy to 
discuss the question of placing the Councillor's 
wife, and arranged with the Ambassador that the 
Italian Ambassadress, Countess Tornielli, who 
was next in order of precedence, should enter 
the Throne Room first, and I was to follow 
immediately behind her, and before the ladies 
of the Italian Embassy. Countess Tornielli was 
an old friend of Rustem Pacha's and was always 
most kind to me. She realised that in this matter 
I was merely a pawn on the chess-board of 
etiquette, which Girardin describes as the 
" convention of weariness." 

{?- Her kind-hearted advice and vast experience 
of life were mirrored in her pleasant chats, when 
she dropped in at the Embassy to tea, that genial 
hour of confidences et medisances. 

I often think of her little talks upon the diffi- 
cult art of cultivating happiness — not easy to find 
within ourselves, and impossible to find elsewhere. 
She had a mania for chiromancy, and, as all my 
life I have been greatly interested in the study of 
this much criticised science, she often made me 
read her hand. She was much impressed when 
at one time I foresaw the Ambassador's and her 
own departure to a near capital just after their 
furniture had arrived from abroad, and the 
Embassy in Grosvenor Square arranged as they 



30 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

wished it. If obliged to leave London, they hoped 
to be sent to a far-distant post, but they were 
transferred to Paris about a month later. Years 
afterwards when we were at the Berlin Embassy, 
she wrote to me there, asking me if it were possible 
for me to " sense " things for her through the 
medium of her hand- writing, to which I replied 
in the negative. 

Mr. Sinnett tried once to prove with me the 
power of projection of the mind. I was calling 
on Mrs. Campbell Praed, and the conversation 
turned on our varied occult experiences, and the 
power she had to make me " see "■ — Mr. Sinnett 
was announced, and was much interested on hear- 
ing the subject of our talk, and asked me to 
prove it by an experiment, no matter how trivial. 
Mrs. Praed put her hand on mine, and I fell asleep. 
Mr. Sinnett said : 

" Send her home." 

He recorded the following : 

" How tiresome of you, Mary, to have for- 
gotten the candles on your master's dressing- 
table." Then : " No, Rustem Pacha will not 
remain at Belvoir till Friday, he is returning 
to-morrow." 

" That will do," said Mr. Sinnett. " Just as 
a test." 

The hand was withdrawn, I awoke, and was 
shown the paper. 

When I returned home Mary was full of 
apologies, when I asked her about the candles, 
and said the master had rung for them, as she 
had forgotten them. 

Then I told my sceptical husband that the 
Pacha would return before the stated time. He 
laughed at my " nonsense," but the next day, 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 31 

when he really did arrive unexpectedly, he said 
it was, of course, a mere coincidence. 

I tried to persuade the Italian Ambassadress 
to go with me to one of Madame Blavatsky's 
Friday evening receptions in Avenue Road, 
which I attended more or less regularly. 

Madame Blavatsky, dressed in a long, loose 
black silk garment which fell in straight lines 
from neck to feet, presided at these meetings, 
seated at one end of the room down the sides of 
which the guests were placed on rows of chairs. 
There was generally rather a dim light, and the 
sibyl's curious eyes, deep-set in the square impas- 
sive face, and her mobile hands, holding the 
inevitable cigarette, seemed the only things 
alive in the strange silhouette. 

Countess Wachtmeister, Mrs. Besant, Baroness 
de Pallandt, Captain Sergeant, and Mr. Sinnett 
were nearly always at the Friday receptions. 

I remember how startled I felt when one even- 
ing, while the hostess was lecturing about auras, 
her weird eyes rested on me, and the deep Russian 
voice said : " You have a tired, irritable aura just 
now, grey, and full of little dots." I replied that 
I was feeling less irritable than apprehensive of 
blackbeetles, one of which was just crawling 
across the carpet, and had filled me with shudders 
of disgust. 

After this description Countess Tornielli decided 
not to venture into the house in Avenue Road. 
She, too, like Madame Blavatsky was of Russian 
origin, but had the heart of a cosmopolitan, and 
a deep insight into the psychology of people and 
things. 

After her husband's death she made her 
permanent abode in Paris, where her modest 



32 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

surroundings were in the greatest contrast to the 
brilliancy of her official days. 

She was one of so many widows of men in high 
public positions who have had to learn one of 
the most difficult lessons in the school of life — 
contentment with memories of varied and brilliant 
days, and the need of sympathy, when least 
likely to find it. 

Every great capital contains many such women, 
who are pathetically careful in trying to hide 
their disillusion from the prying eyes of a callous 
world. 

In those days musical parties at the Italian 
Embassy in Grosvenor Square were always 
charming. There was no lack of Italian artists 
in London who were only too delighted to be 
engaged for the evening or to give gratuitously 
of their best, when invited as honoured guests. 

At one of these musicales, given in honour of 
the Duchesse d'Aoste, who was staying there, 
Tosti sang a number of his own songs, accom- 
panying himself. He had not much voice, but 
his diction was perfect. Signor Simonetti per- 
formed on the violin, and Signor Gambatti at the 
piano. 

The Duchesse d'Aoste had just been staying 
with the Queen at Windsor, and with the Empress 
Eug6nie at Farnborough. Hers was a romantic 
story. Daughter of Prince Jerome Napoleon, 
and of Princess Clothilde of Savoy, eldest daughter 
of King Victor Emmanuel, she had married her 
uncle, Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, 
and brother of King Humbert. A special dis- 
pensation of the Pope had been necessary in order 
to celebrate the marriage which, though of short 
duration (the Duchess w T as a widow at twenty- 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 33 

three) proved a happy one in spite of the disparity 
of age. 

The charm of music seemed enhanced when 
listened to in beautiful surroundings and wealth 
of flowers. I always revelled in the gorgeous 
floral decorations which were particularly beauti- 
ful at most of the Foreign Embassy functions. 
I remember at one of the " Small and Early " 
receptions at the Russian Embassy in Chesham 
Place, the staircases and rooms were full of 
countless pale yellow and pink roses, which 
seemed to have been chosen to tone with the 
peach-coloured brocade worn that evening by the 
beautiful Grand Duchess Serge, whom everybody 
admired so much. 

The entertainments at the Austrian Embassy 
under Countess Karolyi, and later on under 
Countess Deym, were among the finest in London. 
At one of the evening parties there, at which the 
Prince and Princess of Wales were present with 
their daughters, the Princesses Victoria and 
Maud, the entrance hall and staircases were 
transformed into great beds of ferns and lilies, 
and the exotics in the ballroom must have cost 
a fortune. 

Sunday evenings at the French Embassy were 
always delightful. Madame Waddington was an 
ideal hostess, and one of the few in London whose 
social gatherings were in the nature of a salon. 
There was always music, and one always met 
there artistic and literary celebrities, who were 
at their best in the genial atmosphere. 

At one of the dinner parties there, I sat next 
to Lecky, the historian, and we drifted into the 
most abstruse discussions upon thought-trans- 
ference. He declared that the time would come 



34 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

when human beings would be able to read each 
other's thoughts by focussing their gaze and 
interest upon the brow of the person with whom 
they were talking. Heaven be praised, I see as 
yet no particular prospect of his assertion becom- 
ing materialised ! 

Count and Countess de Florian, and pretty 
Madame Heurtel helped the Ambassadress to 
entertain her guests, while the Councillor's wife, 
the Countess d'Aubigny, attracted everybody in 
her own deliberate, indifferent way. 

She and I became friends, and I often accom- 
panied her on expeditions to various London 
museums, where she copied old designs which she 
used for frame embroidery. With this hobby she 
passed a good deal of her leisure, and she carried 
it to a fine art. I had many pleasant chats with 
her while she worked in her drawing-room at 
Wilton Place. Her little dog Waspy, I remember, 
gave us a lot of trouble by howling most dismally 
at street organs, which came the more frequently 
because they were so well paid for going away. 

At the Far Eastern Legations local colour was 
largely to the fore in the matter of floral decora- 
tion. At one of the receptions at the Chinese 
Legation in Portland Place, masses of red and 
white peonies were used. Great balls of these 
blossoms hung from the ceilings and balustrades, 
shields and festoons of them covered the banisters. 
Looking upwards from the ground-floor, one saw 
quaint little figures in national costume peeping 
down from the upper landings. It looked like 
a picture of old Canton. 

Sir Halliday Macartney, the Scotch Councillor 
of the Legation, told me an amusing story in 
connection with the Jubilee reception there. 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 35 

Among the numerous invitations some belated 
ones were sent, as an act of diplomacy, to some 
people in the country, who had large com- 
mercial dealings with China. The usual formula, 
" 10 o'clock,'' was in the left-hand corner of the 
invitation card. When Sir Halliday arrived at 
the Legation from his house in Harley Place at 
eleven o'clock in the morning, he was surprised 
to see half a dozen people standing in the hall in 
evening dress. In answer to his questions, they 
said they preferred to be on the safe side, as the 
card did not state whether the reception would 
be in the morning or the evening. The notice had 
been very short, and they did not like to question 
their friends and betray ignorance of social 
matters. They reappeared among the first arrivals 
in the evening. They were interested in everybody 
and everything, particularly in the shields upon 
which black Chinese inscriptions stood, cut upon a 
white background. They were loud in their 
admiration of the ingenious ballroom decorations, 
among which were large hollowed blocks of ice, 
lit from the centre by multi-coloured electric 
lights. 

Lady Macartney, who was of French origin, 
invited me one afternoon to meet the wives of the 
Minister, and their various babies. Five of the 
latter were carried in by Chinese nurses, who 
followed the Minister's two wives. The children 
all looked about the same age, their little heads 
shaven at the crown, and their serious little faces 
unmoved in expression. Their mothers were 
in national costume, and before tea signified their 
desire to see all over the house. They touched 
everything, expressing curiosity and wonderment 
at the nursery arrangements, turning down all the 



36 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

beds, and fingering the mattresses. Tea was 
afterwards partaken of with unlimited gesticula- 
tions and very limited vocabulary. 

Looking back upon the numerous crowded 
London functions, I always remember that at the 
Prime Minister's gatherings in Arlington Street, 
Lady Salisbury was so genial and kind in her 
manner that she imparted a personal note of 
welcome to the innumerable guests who attended 
her receptions. One never saw upon her face the 
peculiar abstract stare affected by some prominent 
hostesses which almost bordered upon the offensive. 

During the period when the Marquis of Ripon 
was Secretary of State for the Colonies, the 
political parties at his residence on Chelsea 
Embankment were very interesting. I remember 
being adroitly questioned here by one of my 
husband's colleagues upon matters then under 
discussion with the Porte. He fondly imagined 
that every woman, if cleverly " stalked," must 
inevitably chatter. When the conversation had 
yielded nothing but commonplaces, he left me 
with an air of disappointed fervour, and the 
remark, that it was always delightful to listen to 
my little " twitterings " — a term which my 
husband and I laughed about on more than one 
occasion. 

In the light of subsequent events it is interesting 
to remember the visit of the German Emperor 
and Empress to London in 1891. The corps 
diplomatique was commanded to Buckingham 
Palace to be presented to their Majesties in private 
audience. The men, in full uniform, were intro- 
duced to the Emperor by Count Hatzfeldt. The 
Kaiser wore the uniform of the Queen's Own 
Dragoon Guards. In another room the ladies, in 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 37 

high dresses and hats, were placed in a row, 
according to precedence, and awaited the entrance 
of the Empress. I stood next to the Austrian 
Ambassadress, Countess Deym, who headed the 
line. The Russian Ambassadress, Madame de 
Staal, passed in front of it with the Empress, who 
was accompanied by Countess Eulenburg, wife of 
the Master of the Ceremonies of the Berlin Court, 
and introduced us to her in turn. 

The Empress was very plantureuse. She was 
dressed in grey silk trimmed with frills and 
fianiers, and wore a grey bonnet with strings tied 
in a bow under her chin. She looked very shy 
and good-natured, and fingered her parasol while 
talking. One cannot imagine how one so accus- 
tomed to live in the fierce light of publicity could 
have been so shy. 

Remarks exchanged on such occasions cannot 
be called conversation. A few words in German 
were said to Countess Deym, and I was asked in 
French after Abdul Hamid's health. I replied 
that His Imperial Majesty was quite well, as I 
had been informed of this fact before leaving 
home. 

The same question was put to me by her some 
years later when I was introduced at the Berlin 
Court. I was then struck by the alteration in 
her appearance. The ample proportions of figure 
had given place to a slimness and elegance usually 
the prerogative of very much younger women or 
girls. As the Emperor had a particular dislike 
to embonpoint, she had taken a long course of 
thyroid glands of sheep to reduce her figure, and 
with most marvellous success. But during the 
process her hair bleached, and her face aged most 
palpably. 



38 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

At the State ball given in their honour, the 
Emperor headed the Royal procession, leading 
the Princess of Wales, who wore a wonderful gown 
of golden tissue. Immediately behind them came 
the Prince of Wales leading the German Empress, 
who was wearing her favourite colour — pale blue — 
the low bodice crossed with the broad yellow 
ribbon of the Order of the Black Eagle. 

During their visit on the day of the garden 
party at Marlborough House, an enormous crowd 
collected in the Mall. There was such a block of 
carriages that we, among many of the four thou- 
sand invited guests, got out at St. James's Street, 
and walked behind the police, who made way for 
us through the crowd. When the German royal- 
ties, preceded by outriders, drove through the 
Mall, the cheers of the spectators were deafening. 
The Prince and Princess of Wales escorted them 
through the house and into the gardens through 
the drawing-room windows. 

The Emperor wore a grey frock-coat and white 
hat, and the Empress a blue silk dress trimmed 
with cream lace, and a cream and gold bonnet 
with blue feathers. The Princess of Wales was 
also in blue : the Queen, who appeared later, was 
in black with a white lace shawl. 

Introductions were made in the marquee re- 
served for the Royal party, while the bands of 
the Grenadier Guards and the First Prussian 
Dragoon Guards played alternately. All seemed 
couleur de rose, and no one in all that brilliant 
assembly would ever have dreamed that the 
object of all these friendly demonstrations could 
one day inspire such well-earned animosity and 
hatred. 

Rustem Pacha was very devoted to the French 



COURT AND SOCIAL LIFE 39 

Ambassador and Madame Waddington, whom 
he counted among his more intimate personal 
friends. He was sincerely sorry when, in 1893, 
it was known that they were leaving the London 
Embassy. All their colleagues vied with each 
other in giving them a diner d'adieu. The 
Pacha's entertainment was nearly the last one 
they attended before leaving the land where 
they had made so many friends, and which they 
left with so much regret. 

One of the guests invited to meet them was 
the American Minister, Mr. Lincoln, who also 
was soon to leave London and return to the 
United States. The conversation therefore turned 
upon the advantages and disadvantages of diplo- 
matic life — the facilities the career offers for 
making friends in every land, and the inevitable 
partings which belong to the less sunny side of 
it. Several of the guests that evening felt more 
or less sur la branche, as a shuffling of the political 
cards was on the tapis, and one could only hope 
to meet one's friends again in some other part 
of the world. It was in the April of 1893 that 
the American Legation was raised to the status 
of an Embassy, and henceforth the Representative 
of the President ranked with the Ambassadors. 



CHAPTER III 

MIDNIGHT CHATS 

ALL the members of our Embassy were 

/\ made especially welcome at the houses 
A \. oi the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, when 
she received either at Stratton Street or at 
Holly Lodge. She loved Turkey and the Turks, 
and to this day her name is a household word in 
Constantinople, where in many Turkish families 
she is quoted as a model of that true charity 
which is above nationality and prejudice. 

She is the only woman who has received the 
Grand Cordon of the Medjidieh. The Sultan 
bestowed it upon her in recognition of her extreme 
generosity to the Turks during the Crimean War. 
A life-sized portrait of her, wearing the broad red 
and green ribbon of the Order from shoulder to 
waist, hung in the dining-room of her London 
residence, and people often compared her with it 
as she stood in the same attitude receiving her 
guests. 

After she had received this decoration, one 
especially for women was instituted — the Chefakat, 
or Order of Mercy. This has been bestowed upon 
various English women, wives of diplomatists, 
famous generals, etc. There is another " extra 
special " decoration for our sex which is reserved 
for Sultanas, Princesses, and favourite Ambassa- 
dresses, and consists of a large eight-pointed 

40 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 41 

enamel star, heavily studded with diamonds. 
Lady 0' Conor, formerly British Ambassadress in 
Constantinople received it from the Sultan. 

The Chefakat looks very well on evening dress. 
It has a decorative white watered-ribbon edged 
with narrow stripes of red and green. The large 
gold and enamelled octagon star contains the 
Sultan's cypher in its centre, and in the higher 
classes of it the points are rilled with diamonds. 

It came as a great surprise to me when the 
Ambassador handed me one day a large red 
velvet box containing the brevet and the decora- 
tion for myself. He had asked for it at head- 
quarters for the help I had given him in cyphering 
and decyphering telegrams at a time when impor- 
tant political negotiations caused them to rain 
upon us almost hourly. 

While the secretaries were kept busy in the 
Chancery I often worked for hours in the Pacha's 
room, using his code book and key, and, as word 
by word of some important dispatch was de- 
cyphered, he leaned over my shoulder, or walked 
up and down the room thinking out the solution 
to various problems. 

He did not make very many nearer personal 
friends, as his time was too fully occupied to 
admit of this, and his strength barely sufficed for 
the necessary official and social duties incumbent 
upon his position. But he liked nothing better 
than informal visits from those admitted to his 
friendship, and cosy chats round the tea table or 
little dinner parties were welcomed by him as 
relaxation from work. 

He liked the German Ambassador, Count Hatz- 
feldt, very much, and when the Countess, from 
whom he was legally separated, came to London, 



42 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

they dined together with us at the Embassy, 
apparently on the best of terms with each other. 
She was American by birth, and a very beautiful 
woman, but her face looked weary when in repose, 
and the expression of her eyes testified to a certain 
discouragement of heart. 

When their two beautiful daughters married 
the Princes Hohenlohe, Count and Countess 
Hatzfeldt re-married, previous to their daughters' 
dual nuptial ceremony. Their son, Count Herman, 
was a very good musician, and he delighted 
us by his pianoforte playing when he came to 
the Embassy. The younger daughter, Countess 
Baby Hatzfeldt before her marriage, sometimes 
stayed with her father in London while he was 
living en gargon in Carlton House Terrace. He 
was devoted to her, but complained whimsically 
that he had not the slightest control over her, 
and that she played the maddest pranks. " As 
for her extravagance," he would exclaim, holding 
up his hands, " it is beyond description, and when 
I scold her for running up bills, she merely laughs 
and says, ' Oh, all the Hatzfeldts make debts \' " 

One evening the Pacha, my husband and I were 
at one of the theatres in a box exactly opposite 
the one in which Count Hatzfeldt was seated with 
his daughter and an intimate girl friend of hers. 
In the interval when her father had left the box, 
Mademoiselle Baby amused herself by making 
little paper pellets from her programme and 
flicking them adroitly from her thumb-nail at 
the bald head of an old gentleman seated in the 
stalls. The two girls leaned forward to watch 
the effect, and it really was rather comical to see 
the surprise of the bombarded individual. He 
was louche several times, and looked round with 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 43 

irate glances to try and discover the cause. 
Although several people were watching with 
amusement this performance, nobody gave the 
girls away. I heard, although I did not see it 
myself, that the exuberant young lady astounded 
the natives by driving tandem donkeys down 
Park Lane in the height of the season. 

About this time all London talked about 
Rustem Pacha's probable marriage with a promi- 
nent member of the British aristocracy, and he 
more than once hinted to us that this was im- 
pending. 

However, his terror of making a mistake — 
knowledge of his own jealous temperament, likely 
to clash with the same fault in the lady con- 
cerned — prevented the definite proposal ever being 
uttered. After a little froid due to this, the 
friendship with the said lady continued until his 
death. 

But there was one woman of whom he was 
really afraid, and later when we were at Oakhill 
Park, he made me promise that I would never 
allow her to get near him — living or dead. Once 
I remember he hid in an upper room when he 
fancied that she was a caller at the house. 

In speaking of a certain pushing woman in 
Society who wrote to him regularly every week 
to remind him that she was at home every Wed- 
nesday afternoon, he said to me : " Does she 
imagine I doubt the fact, that she is continually 
telling me of it ? She can rest in peace quite 
certain that I shall not disturb her in the enjoy- 
ment of her tea." The woman in question was 
certainly thick skinned, as she did not in the least 
mind certain verses being written by a French 
diplomat on her sudden success in London 



44 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

society ; in fact, she was rather proud of them, 
and snowed them to her friends. 

" It is much more clever to make a big position 
out of small beginnings," she would say, " than 
to just swim along in a ready-made one, and then 
come to grief on the rocks as so many people 
do." 

She rather flaunted her obscure origin, and 
boasted of it, saying that she was a true democrat, 
with every social instinct doubled. 

One of the most interesting of Rustem Pacha's 
intimate friends was Mrs. Singleton, who later on, 
as Lady Currie, became British Ambassadress in 
Constantinople. 

She possessed in a marked degree the magnet 
of personal sympathy, and was much discussed at 
the time, when, under her pseudonym, "Violet 
Fane," she gave the story of her own romance to 
the world, in her articles : " Two Moods of a 
Man," which appeared in the Nineteenth Century. 

At the time of its publication, Sir Philip Currie 
was said to be wavering in his allegiance to her. 
He lived then in Connaught Place, and, after the 
appearance of the articles, a repertoire of songs 
written by Violet Fane and set to music by well- 
known composers was sung outside his house at 
ten o'clock every evening during several weeks. 

A magnificent tenor had been engaged for the 
purpose, and we could hear him distinctly at the 
corner of Bryanston Square. The programme 
usually ended with Tosti's passionate and rather 
harrowing song, " For Ever and For Ever." I 
often wondered how the spell had worked, and 
was delighted to assist at the final unravelling of 
the psychological skein, which culminated in their 
marriage. 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 45 

At the time Lady Currie laughingly said that, 
with the aid of a tiara and a bottle of hair dye, 
she hoped to hold her own as Ambassadress in 
Constantinople. She was disappointed in her 
first post, and said, more than once, that she had 
been too long accustomed to reign supreme in her 
own circle to be able to fit easily into the trammels 
of official routine. She published a charming 
volume of verses, entitled Under Cross and 
Crescent, and the following lines from one of the 
poems point to her disillusion with life in later 
years, which no doubt can be echoed by many 
women with whom love has been the supreme 
motive power of existence : 

" True, I know 
That which I call my heart goes beating on, 
But Life, as Life was once, with fervid glow 
Of passionate abandonment is gone, 
Maybe for evermore. Yet would I end 
This equable placidity of mood 
And brave again the ills that might transcend ? 
Nay — this is rest — and surely rest is good." l 

Later on, when she was Ambassadress in Rome, 
she whimsically admitted that the alteration of 
her pseudonym by a malicious colleague to 
Violette fanee was only too appropriate. She had 
a genius for friendship and realised that one must 
be a friend to have a friend. She often quoted 
an old Turkish proverb, which runs : " Friendless 
surely he remains who demands a faultless 
friend." 
One evening in May my husband and I and 

1 She published another volume of verse, Betwixt Two Seas. 
These poems and ballads were written at Constantinople and 
Therapia, and Winter in Armenia is a passionate appeal to the 
ladies of England for help for Armenian victims. 



46 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Hamid Bey went to the New Club to see Kate 
Vaughan and her company in " Moths." 

We dined there previous to the performance, 
and at another table Ismail Pacha was entertain- 
ing a large party of guests, who were all much 
discussed by different members of the Club giving 
little dinners at various tables. 

Hamid Bey had invited a certain rich Australian 
and her daughter, who had taken a large house in 
Piccadilly. We sat together for the performance 
of the play, and I soon realised that the mother 
had the real Colonial adoration of Royalty. In a 
moment of expansion, and with the air of confer- 
ring upon me a priceless favour, she offered to 
exchange places with me in order that I might 
have a better view of the Prince of Wales, who 
was conversing with Mrs. Brown Potter. 

She talked incessantly of her social engage- 
ments, her presentation at Court, etc., and when 
I asked her if she were not fatigued with so much 
going out, she replied in a surprised tone : " Oh, 
no ! I never walk farther than to my carriage." 
She had a statuette of herself in Court dress, and 
this was always placed in a prominent position in 
her drawing-room, and went with her to every 
hotel she stayed at. She framed her invitation 
cards according to the rank of her hostess. 

Both mother and daughter informed me that 
they never partook of anything as " common " 
as butcher's meat ; game and poultry were their 
chief form of nourishment, which, judging by 
their ample proportions, they must have partaken 
of very freely. Of course many people dislike 
meat, but for other reasons than the one they 
mentioned. 

We all found enough material for observation 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 47 

in the very crowded days and nights which were 
scheduled into sections of interesting work and 
interesting relaxations, if indeed the latter term 
can be applied to the numerous social engage- 
ments which dovetailed one into the other. 

The Ambassador heartily disliked the usual 
enormous London reception or standing soirees, 
where serried crowds of guests moved in pro- 
cession through the salons, or fluttered like human 
moths round some particular star. He preferred 
smaller and more intimate gatherings, where 
people had room to circulate and chat in different 
groups, and beyond the few necessary large 
official parties he confined himself to them. 

He laughed very much when telling us what a 
very pretty girl answered him when he expressed 
his regret to her that he was not twenty-five, 
and able to win her regard. She looked him up 
and down, hesitated, then said with a charming 
smile : 

" Well, as I cannot truthfully say I would like 
to be fifty-five, I can only say that I think you 
are very well as you are." 

" She took twenty years off my back," said the 
Ambassador, squaring his shoulders, and turning 
to the big mirror in the drawing-room so alertly, 
that the black tassel on his fez made quite a curve, 
and the fez itself, always too large for his head and 
balanced on one ear, nearly fell off on his shoulder. 

His English sometimes got slightly mixed with 
other languages, and I remember his ordering the 
servant to whistle for a " dirt-wheeler " (" durt " 
being the Turkish word for four). Also, in speak- 
ing of a foal, he persisted in calling it a fowl, in 
spite of many laughing remonstrances from his 
friends. 



48 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

When we returned from parties, or after his 
own guests had departed from an entertainment 
at the Embassy, he liked to sit and chat about 
the people he had met, and the personal experi- 
ences of the day or evening. He became more 
and more wide awake and talkative after midnight, 
and we often sat well into the small hours chatting 
or listening to his reminiscences of people and 
episodes of his past, which he called the " Courage 
of Recollections." 

Sometimes, but not often, he discussed political 
matters. He realised to the full the drawbacks 
of the intolerable spy system in Turkey, which 
just then was in full swing under the regime of 
Abdul Hamid. Later on, when the question of 
the evacuation of Egypt pressed heavily upon 
him, he was often terribly worried by the vaccina- 
tions and procrastinations of the Government he 
represented. Of course he was careful to hide this 
in his public dealings, and perhaps nobody 
realised how cognisant he was of the insecurity 
of the political barque he was endeavouring to 
steer through waves of passion and prejudice. 

In discussing the idea of his marrying an 
English lady, he said that the extreme difference 
of their ideas regarding personal liberty and 
family life fortunately prevented what undoubt- 
edly would have proved a catastrophe to both 
parties. 

" You have evidently been a terrible flirt," I 
said one evening, " and have surely broken many 
women's hearts." This after a particularly long 
dissertation on some of the portraits in his gallery 
of reminiscences. 

He laughed delightedly at this remark, and said : 

" There are so many solutions to the problems 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 49 

of existence, but women complicate them all. If 

my beautiful friend, Lady X , of the St. 

Petersburg days had learned a little more the 
difficult art of self-control, who knows whether 
I should still be a bachelor, or indeed be in London 
now ! She was not more heart-broken than I was, 
when I left Russia after refraining from asking 
her to do me the honour of sharing my existence. 
Ah ! there are abysses in the heart over which 
life can build no bridges." 

The lady in question had bestowed upon him 
as a parting gift, a beautiful table centre-piece 
worked in Russian embroideries by her own 
hands, in the middle of which was the phrase in 
Russian characters : " All for Ambition, nothing 
for Love." 

I had wondered what romance had been 
interwoven with the scroll. I have since often 
thought of the disillusion and disappointment he 
must have inflicted upon those who cared for him, 
by his inordinate suspicion and dread of being 
" betrayed." 

He had concentrated too much on each new 
object of affection, and had always been on the 
look-out for a rival. He had made the mistake of 
not looking enough to his own laurels, but of 
disparaging in a thousand little ways the merits 
of the other suitor, forgetting that, as a rule, 
such a line of conduct has a knack of turning out 
to the rival's advantage, and of adding to his 
importance. 

When he talked with a sigh of a beautiful 

Swedish Countess B , " a lovely blonde, with 

the eyes of a dove and the mouth of a Messalina," 
he said, " I should never have been able to 
allow her out of my sight ! " 



50 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

As the breath of vanished days hovered in the 
room, fraught with the pathos of departed times, 
I could hardly associate these reminiscences with 
the speaker, and wondered if one ever would be 
able to fathom the secret of preferences ! 

He often talked of his mother, the Countess 
de Marini, who had lived with him in the Florence 
Legation in the far-off Italian days. She was 
then quite an old lady, but strongly tenacious in 
her desire still to appear young and beautiful. 

He had evidently been the kindest and best of 
sons, most solicitous for her happiness, and in 
upholding her position in the diplomatic world. 

She dressed most unsuitably, and my husband 
told me that on one occasion the Pacha had 
respectfully but firmly refused to accompany her 
to the Opera unless she first changed her dress. 
She was well over seventy, and had appeared in 
diaphanous white muslin adorned with a wide 
pale blue sash, her coal-black wig surmounted 
by an azure wreath of forget-me-nots. 

After her death, hundreds of rolls of uncut 
material — silk, velvet, muslin, grenadine, count- 
less rolls of ribbon of all widths, endless lengths 
of lace and other trimmings were found in her 
wardrobe, enough to provide for the trousseaux 
of any amount of daughters had she been fortunate 
enough to possess the latter. 

Sometimes the Pacha discussed the extrava- 
gance in the lives of the wealthy families of 
England. He was always careless of money, 
though fully alive to its obvious advantages. 
" Extravagance is the privilege of a rich country," 
he said, " just as economy is largely a question of 
standards." 

He did not care much for country visits, which 




RUSTEM PACHA'S MOTHER, 
THE COUNTESS HE MAKINI 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 51 

always tired him. He went on one or two occasions 
to week-end parties at Hatfield House and at 
Bel voir Castle. It was at one of these mansions — 
it is wiser perhaps not to say which — that an 
amusing incident occurred in connection with the 
growing abuse of tips to servants. When about 
to depart after sleeping there two nights, he 
proffered three or four sovereigns to the butler. 
This lordly functionary bowed with the greatest 
dignity and said : " We never take anything but 
paper here, Your Excellency." (There were, of 
course, no one-pound Treasury notes in those 
days.) 

" Oh, very well," replied the Pacha, who 
pocketed his despised gold and departed. 

When he was commanded to dine and sleep at 
Windsor, he returned delighted with the gracious- 
ness of the Queen towards him. She always 
accorded him a long conversation when she 
held cercle after dinner, and he never failed to 
utilise the opportunity of cementing the good- 
will and friendship existing between Turkey and 
England, and of assuring Her Majesty that he was 
fully alive to the necessity of maintaining the 
same. 

He had the greatest admiration for Gladstone, 
and the astuteness of his mind, despite what he 
termed " his evasive policy " with Turkey. 

He said it was always difficult to get a definite 
reply to any proposition. There was always a 
loophole left. 

With Lord Salisbury he said it was easier to 
deal, as he did not camouflage his ideas and 
policy with double meaning. His own mind, 
trained equally in the Eastern and the Western 
world, felt how wide and far reaching his own 



52 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

experience and influence might be, if only he 
had been allowed a free hand in his diplomatic 
dealings. 

His probity was proverbial in a land where 
corruption and disaffection lay at the heart of so 
many things, and he was known in England as a 
man of high-minded, independent caste of char- 
acter, not at all smitten with the malady of 
money. He threw away many opportunities of 
amassing a fortune, even when in the matter of 
the Rothschild loan he was offered a large amount 
of shares below par, which was considered quite 
legitimate. He had even voluntarily renounced 
half his salary when Governor-General of the 
Lebanon, because the financial affairs of Turkey 
were at a very low ebb. Yet he was fully alive to 
the power of wealth, especially in a country like 
England. 

It amused me to listen to his impressions of 
English women, for whom he had the greatest 
admiration in the abstract, tempered with the 
strongest disapproval of the freedom allowed to 
them. Although an ardent admirer of the fair 
sex, he was convinced that no woman was to be 
trusted. 

When we took a house of our own in London 
we found that we were able to be very little in it, 
and until we again took up our abode under the 
Ambassador's roof he was continually contem- 
plating the possibility of marriage, even at his 
advanced age. I believe he really refrained 
chiefly on account of what he called the " secre- 
tive " nature of the women he knew best. 

" They make a mystery of everything, even of 
the most trivial matters," he said. " If they go 
to the next room to drink a glass of water, they 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 53 

smile mysteriously, or draw themselves up in 
hauteur, if questioned, or if one attempt to 
discuss the most trifling personal matter. Even 
if there be absolutely nothing of any importance 
behind it all, it is an ' intrusion.' These ' no- 
things ' would gain inordinate importance, and 
become a matter of pre-occupation, and would 
end by filling my mind with the feeling of being 
thwarted. Reserved English women dislike expan- 
siveness of any description. My affections would 
have to be doled out to them just in the limits 
they prescribed, and how very tiresome this 
would be ! " 

On such occasions, I wisely refrained from 
speech, and merely made reassuring noises, while 
" shaking a smile " from my closed lips. 

We laughed when discussing the extraordinary 
letters which often arrived at the Embassy from 
all sorts and conditions of people. Some of them 
were begging letters, others full of vituperation 
or suggestions for national reform in Turkey. 
Others, again, requested personal interviews for 
the disclosure of wonderful secrets which were to 
turn the tide of European politics. 

Every week one strange old lady, whom none 
of us ever saw, wrote the Ambassador a long 
rambling letter, a weekly resume of political 
happenings, upon which she proffered her valuable 
advice, coupled with the request that it should be 
forwarded to the Sultan. Once or twice, the 
Ambassador had her gracious permission to utilise 
her brain-waves for himself, if he thought they 
would be useful to his personal advancement. 
She added that, as far as she were concerned, she 
would never resent his " picking her brain." No 
efforts on our part could stem the torrent of her 



54 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

eloquence. Death alone, at long last, was the 
means of arresting her all-too-busy pen. 

The Pacha was one day most indignant when 
the post brought him an elaborately worded 
advertisement from a well-known firm of funeral 
furnishers. He was informed that if during his 
lifetime he engaged the services of this firm for 
cremation or any other form of burial, he would 
receive the personal attention of the head of the 
establishment, and he could die convinced that 
the obsequies would be carried out in accordance 
with his rank. 

" Do I look as if I needed these attentions ? ' 
he demanded of me fretfully. " At my age one 
has enough to do to keep one's self alive without 
being reminded of Death." He shuddered at the 
thought of dissolution ; the idea of treading the 
road which leads to the terminus was always 
abhorrent to him. 

He never could understand the breezy attitude 
of mind of his old friend, Sir Patrick Colquhoun, 
who made fun of an incident that would have 
annoyed the Pacha into a fever. 

Sir Patrick was an eccentric old gentleman 
with his own ideas of hygiene, and who, winter and 
summer, wore white duck trousers. He was a 
most highly educated and interesting man, with 
extraordinary hobbies. He liked prowling about 
in the less frequented parts of London — mingling 
with the crowd, bargaining for eatables, and often 
carrying home weird parcels, which his own 
housekeeper would have scorned to bear. 

One day, while strolling in the Edgware Road, 
he saw on huge posters the announcement : 

" Death of Sir Patrick Colquhoun." 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 55 

" Tiens ! " he ejaculated, surveying the poster 
with an amused smile. " Are there two of us ? " 

He bought several papers and walked with them 
round to Bryanston Square, and told us he had 
something funny to show us. 

He spread out the papers, and chuckled audibly 
as he read out to us his own obituary notices. 

" What a chance ! " he exclaimed. " Few are 
privileged to see themselves as others see them ! 
I could never have thought of half the things now 
said about me." 

" No, really," he replied to an unspoken ques- 
tion of the Pacha, who was looking at him with 
raised eyebrows. "It is no hoax of mine — all I 
can say is I must try and live up to this ! " And 
he put the bundle of papers under his arm and 
said good-bye. 

Our chats together, helped to cheat the loneli- 
ness of old age of which the Pacha had the greatest 
dread. Like very many old people, he loved the 
charm of extreme youth, and was never more 
delighted than when the youthful daughters of 
some of his friends came, duly chaperoned, to tea 
with him, and remained for an hour or two. He 
kept quite a collection of jewellery, bracelets, 
pendants, brooches, etc., for these occasions, and 
handed them out as little surprise packets when 
bidding them good-bye. His especial favourite 
was the Countess of Cottenham's charming and 
gifted little daughter, Lady Mary Pepys, then a 
beautiful child noted for her delightful acting in 
French plays, and for her recitations both in 
English and French, which she spoke with no 
trace of foreign accent. 

Next in his order of preferences were Lady 
Mary Sackville and Miss Aimee Lowther, who, 



56 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

though no longer children, charmed him with 
their brightness, intelligence, and vivacity. 

After their departure, when speaking of age, he 
often said with a sigh : " Ah, mon enfant, c'est 
dommage qu'on ne peut pas toujours avoir soixante 
ans ! " 

I privately wondered if that advanced milestone 
of life would be considered by everybody as the 
most perfect term of measurement. 

He was not superstitious, yet he was terribly 
upset whenever he heard a dog howling at night. 
He believed that animals are more psychic than 
human beings, and capable of sensing future 
events — especially death, before they actually 
take place. He shrugged his shoulders and said 
that all things were possible when I told him the 
story of a large wooden Buddha, which a friend of 
mine had brought to London, in spite of admoni- 
tions and warnings. 

It was almost life-size. The gilt on the wood 
was worn in places, a string of amber beads hung 
upon its neck, the eye in the centre of the fore- 
head was missing. The empty socket had a 
strange effect, and seemed to follow one about 
the room. The missing eye was formerly a large 
diamond, which had been stolen and sold by a 
soldier who had looted an Indian temple. It was 
predicted that this diamond would always bring 
misfortune to the possessor. 

The woman who told me the story said that 
one day when her husband, who was an analytical 
chemist, had left the house for his laboratory in 
order to make some experiment, a cloud of smoke 
suddenly issued from the socket, and for a second 
seemed to be lit up by a thousand gleaming lights. 
At that very moment her husband was injured 




t J 



RUSTEM PACHA AS A CHUT) 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 57 

while trying the Lavoisier experiment upon a 
marvellous diamond he had recently bought, and 
which was traced afterwards as the missing eye. 

The stone had been placed beneath a glass bell 
filled with oxygen gas. The sun's rays were 
focused upon it by means of a lens and directed 
upon the stone which suddenly took fire. When 
the glass over it was removed, nothing was found 
beneath it but carbonic acid — a combination of 
oxygen and carbon. As a rule the fumes were 
harmless, and the doctor who was hastily sum- 
moned could not explain the cause of the scientist's 
collapse. A verdict of death from heart failure 
was pronounced by the medical faculty. 

Many people in London talked about omens 
when, at the wedding of Mdle. de Staal, daughter 
of the Russian Ambassador, with Count Alexis 
Orloff-Davidoff, the bridal veil caught fire. The 
fact was recalled when later on her marriage was 
dissolved on account of family dissensions, and 
the Count married en secondes noces Madame 
Maronisma Poirre. 

Count Alexis was always greatly influenced by 
superstitions, and it is said that his second wife 
owed her influence over him to her occultism. 
Before his divorce was pronounced, it was con- 
tinually predicted by crystal-gazers that a second 
marriage would bring him perfect happiness, and 
the Count was quite convinced that his divorce 
and remarriage were inevitably arranged in the 
unseen world, and that it would be quite useless 
to fight against Destiny. 

In all my intercourse with Turks I cannot say 
that I found them superstitious in the same sense 
as the term is generally used here. They are all 
imbued with the feeling of fatality — Kismet — 



58 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

and this lies greatly at the root of the wonderful 
heroism displayed by their soldiers on the battle- 
field, and their patience under hardship, want of 
due payment, and privations of all sorts. 

There are many soothsayers and fortune-tellers 
in Turkey, but they are more or less confined to a 
class who practise as a profession. There are not 
the same ramifications of it in all classes of 
society like there are here. Turkish ladies steal 
out concealed by feridje and yashmak and consult 
the diviners who read fate in sand, and in eggs, 
in the wriggling of worms, in the intestines of 
fowls, and in consultation with the stars ; but one 
does not meet in the harem the visitor who is 
ready to practise chiromancy or to lend himself or 
herself, as the case may be, to the holding of 
seances and the assertion of occult power. 

Madmen in Turkey are regarded as Holy Men, 
touched by the gods, or punished by guardian 
spirits. It is really astonishing that it is all far 
more general in northern triste climates, and less 
practised among the mysterious beauties of Nature 
in the East. 

Perhaps it is because in the East people are all 
the more or less seers by nature, full of intuition 
and imbued with a sense of fatality, so that 
only the class which makes it a lifelong study is 
able to convince people at all. Mere dabblers, 
and those who practise it for amusement or self- 
interest have no importance at all with them. 

None of the secretaries at the Embassy took 
my personal experiences au serieux, and they and 
the Pacha chaffed me unmercifully when I told 
them of the ghastly noises I heard in my bedroom 
at the Embassy a few days before I became very 
ill with typhoid fever. 



MIDNIGHT CHATS 59 

One evening, while I was dressing for dinner, 
an explosive noise took place in the mahogany 
wardrobe in which some of my clothes were 
hanging, and the door flew open. At the next 
moment the large Victorian mirror over the 
mantelpiece cracked right across with another 
explosive noise. Then I heard a sound as if all 
the chimneys were falling in. Trembling with 
agitation, I went down to dinner and told them 
what had happened. The Pacha laughed and 
said : " Monsieur Hamid Bey must have been 
playing practical jokes ! " He of course denied 
this. Later on, when I lay at death's door in the 
Embassy for months, they often spoke of the 
" coincidence." 



CHAPTER IV 

INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 

DURING the season invitations poured 
in from all the people we knew, and 
from many we did not know. In the 
latter category letters and cards arrived for me 
addressed in the oddest manner, such as : 
" Madame Ottoman " or " Lady Bey." We 
laughed at them, and realised that, in the eyes 
of strangers we were identified with the East by 
people who had but little knowledge of its customs. 
Among charming hostesses of the day was the 
Duchess of Sutherland, then in the height of her 
beauty. One evening in June my husband and 
I arrived rather early at a party given at Stafford 
House. After chatting for a little while with our 
host and hostess, we wandered into the noble 
picture gallery, then almost empty. Upon one 
of the red satin sofas lay a forgotten doll and 
a skipping-rope, and we smiled, suggestive of the 
children of the house playing there before the 
arrival of guests. 

Later on when the rooms became very crowded, 
a few people sought the comparative seclusion of 
the boudoir, where shaded light rilled the room 
with a soft glow. It gave one an impression of 
broad divans — cushions of pale shimmering bro- 
cade, and patches of delicious pink Malmaison 
carnations. There was a writing-table with 

60 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 61 

photographs on it, a low well-filled bookcase, and 
a table arranged with daily newspapers and 
periodicals. 

When we entered it two friends, who had 
evidently long been parted, met here. I turned 
to go, after catching sight of the woman, when 
incredulity, recognition, and rapture chased each 
other rapidly over an intense little pale face, 
which in repose looked like that of so many 
broken-hearted women who are not meant to 
have happiness in this world, and who, if they try 
to steal it, must pay too heavily. 

I thought what an ideal setting for a romance 
the shaded room looked, and I felt angry when 
some Americans strolled in, handled books, and 
took some carnations, exclaiming : " Why, we 
would never leave out all these ohotos in New 
York." 

In 1891 we were at a ball at Lady Londonderry's 
when the ballroom ceiling caught fire. The room 
with its white stucco walls was lit by gas jets let 
in from the ceiling, and covered in from below by 
cone-shaped glasses to prevent overheating. The 
fire brigade was called up when the flames spread 
to a bedroom above. 

The Princess of Wales suggested that dancing 
should not be discontinued, so quadrilles were 
danced at one end of the enormous ballroom, 
while water from the firemen's hose fell on the 
floor at the other end. 

Balls at La,nsdowne House and Devonshire 
House were always on a magnificent scale. I 
remember one evening at Lord Rosebery's when 
the ballroom was panelled half-way up the wall 
with red roses and green leaves. It was so crowded 
that dancing was the least of pleasures. The King 



62 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

of Greece was the guest of the evening, and 
chatted amiably in English with the various 
eminent people who were presented to him. He 
talked a good deal about pictures, and admired 
very much the life-sized portrait of the daughters 
of his host, the Ladies Margaret and Sybil Prim- 
rose, and became quite enthusiastic in his praise 
of the lights and shades in Millais' wonderful 
painting of Gladstone in his University gown. 

He watched with the greatest amusement a 
well-known arrogant old lady, whom I will call 
Lady X. She had eyes like blue marbles, which 
seemed able to ferret out any secrets, and her 
mouth reminded one of a camel's. She wore a 
scarlet wig and was dressed always in the very 
latest fashion. Her face had a vacuous expression 
of would-be patronage, and her voice carried far, 
very far, as she advised a lady who had recently 
lost her husband not to look too cheerful — just 
at first. 

She once asked me most impertinently if my 
husband were not really the son of Rust em Pacha, 
as they had been inseparable for so many years, 
and most people said he was. I advised her to 
look up his family tree in Paris, if the matter 
were of any importance to her — and she gushingly 
promised to do so. 

Lady X. was one of the many idle people 
who cannot realise or believe in any true dis- 
interested affection or lifelong devotion. She 
enjoyed nothing so much as making people feel 
uncomfortable, and she loved to depreciate the 
social prestige, characteristics, sentiments, or 
motives of others. If the opinion of that vague, 
shadowy being called the World is but the echo 
of an indifferent or malicious crowd, why do 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 63 

people ever make themselves unhappy over its 
pin-pricks and gossip ? 

To leave the crowded rooms and go out into 
the garden was like finding some spot remote 
from the treadmill of pleasure. There you could 
think of cornfields where silver was just turning 
into gold, and of pink clover deepening to brown 
from sheer luxury of living. 

Baroness de Reuter gave many interesting 
parties at her house in Kensington Palace Gardens, 
where literature and the arts were fully repre- 
sented. I met there Mascagni and Adelina Patti, 
accompanied by her husband, M. Nicolini. Patti 
was a great friend of the hostess, and sang two 
songs during a musical evening, but was not at 
all liberal in the matter of encores. She was very 
charming to me, when my husband introduced 
me to her, and reminded her of his former friend- 
ship with her in the far-off Russian days, when 
as a young man he was secretary at the Embassy 
in St. Petersburg, and she, the feted Marquise de 
Caux. 

Many people in the Russian capital had then 
regretted that the rigid laws of Russian etiquette 
had prevented the diva from going to Court. The 
Czar sent her the most magnificent furs, etc., and 
on more than one occasion spoke of the pleasure 
it would give him to welcome her at the balls in 
the Winter Palace, " quand elle aura quitt'e la 
scene." 

One of Baroness de Reuter's daughters, 
Baroness von Donop, was seen at all official 
parties, in spite of her delicate health. I remember 
seeing her go backwards up the staircase of the 
Foreign Office, at a crowded reception, in order 



64 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

to lessen the strain upon the heart. The brilliancy 
of her dark eyes belied the idea of illness, and 
many people admired the tall, slim figure in its 
dress of white filmy lace, the only touch of colour 
given by a large trailing bouquet of deep red 
roses. She was buried not long afterwards in her 
wedding dress, and when in her coffin looked as 
if she were on the point of going into the big 
world to which she had said the everlasting fare- 
well. 

Lady Goldsmid, a friend of my husband's in 
in the old days in Florence, received every Friday 
evening at her house in Piccadilly, when one or 
another of her eight daughters assisted in wel- 
coming her numerous guests. All the girls spoke 
Italian perfectly, and were brought up in the 
most practical manner by their beautiful, clever 
mother. 

One always met there interesting artists and 
heard delightful music. Mr. Isidore de Lara was 
one of the habitues de la maison, and I first heard 
his famous song, " The Garden of Sleep," at one 
of Lady Goldsmid's Friday evenings. Tivadar 
Nachez, the famous violinist, was also frequently 
to be met there, and the cosmopolitan character 
of the receptions attracted all the members of 
foreign missions in London. 

In those days young girls were not allowed 
to go to balls and parties unattended by a 
chaperon, even although the term might become 
an elastic definition. I often " mothered " six 
or eight girls of different families, and was be- 
sieged by requests to take under my wing damsels 
often very much older than myself. I still loved 
dancing, and had not then arrived at the stage 
when a. woman is politely offered a chair instead 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 65 

of an arm. As my husband cordially disliked 
balls, he was pleased when I departed with a 
merry lot of girls, some of whom in fact took 
advantage of my good nature to the extent of over- 
flirting, and of my being expostulated with and 
held responsible for by their mothers. 

Afternoon parties then, as now, were chiefly 
frequented by ladies, men having little time or 
inclination to attend them. Hostesses vied with 
each other in trying to find novelties to make 
them attractive. Although the " Black Art " 
was among offences punishable by law, it was 
freely used as an attraction in private life, and 
fortune-tellers by hands or tea - leaves were 
engaged, and paid anything from two guineas to 
ten guineas an afternoon. Fashionably dressed 
women often stood in queues outside the tent or 
room in which the sybil was enshrined, patiently 
waiting their turn to enter. 

For a long time beautiful Miss Nina Kennedy 
was very much en vogue, and I remember meeting 
her at a large afternoon party in a well-known 
house at Ashburn Place, when she was besieged 
by people anxious to discuss that most engrossing 
of topics — themselves. On that occasion she 
bade me pause and beware of a prominent man 
among the guests whom she mentioned by name. 

" He pretends to have your interests at heart," 
she said, " yet he would not cross the road to save 
his best friend from crucifixion." She then 
prophesied a sad end to his brilliant career, which 
was certainly fulfilled. The incident was interest- 
ing on account of her powers of clairvoyance 
about a person of whom I had at the moment been 
thinking. 

My experience of a " Tea-leaf Sybil " was made 



66 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

at the house of a popular hostess, Lady Z., who 
had engaged a woman named Clarke, whom I 
vainly endeavoured to trace a few years later. 

When my turn came to enter the room where 
she was seated with her paraphernalia, I advanced 
to the table, upon which stood a large family 
brown earthenware teapot and several cups. After 
shaking the teapot and pouring a little tea into 
the bottom of a cup, she fixed two mournful dark 
eyes upon me for a minute, then directed her gaze 
to the bottom of the cup which she turned to and 
fro as she spoke : 

" I see the letter M, and a mansion in which is 
an empty room. Beneath this room are honours 
destined for your household, which, however, 
you are powerless to lift. Only one person could 
do this for you; his initial is H., and the four 
corners of the letter are tipped with gold (Hamid). 
Early in the year you will move from this mansion 
and travel to another country. I see trunks 
being packed, and a journey by water to a place 
which is not the one you would prefer to go to. 
Later on you go a very, very long journey over 
land and sea, which is connected with great 
sorrow, and after many years you return to 
England. This will be in the winter, for I see the 
wheels of the train moving rapidly between high 
banks of snow, and yourself wrapped in furs. 
Your life is and will be a most eventful one, and 
you will touch heights and depths known to very 
few people." 

This prophecy was uttered some months before 
the death of Rustem Pacha and my husband's 
nomination to Berlin, a post he hesitated for some 
time before accepting, as he was not acquainted 
with the German language, and had never felt 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 67 

particularly attracted towards life in the Father- 
land. 

Subsequent events in my life often reminded 
me of Mrs. Clarke and her clairvoyant powers. 

When I think of the crowded afternoon parties 
of those days I see in my mind's eye the funny 
little figure of Mademoiselle Van Der Meersch, 
with her performing birds and her little wand, 
whom one met at one house after another, also 
the trumpeting lady, who produced the most 
remarkable sounds from her hideously twisted 
lips, to a pianoforte accompaniment, and la 
belle Siffleuse, a lady of ample proportions and a 
defiant manner, whose extraordinary rendering 
of airs from different operas astonished rather 
than pleased the long-suffering audience. 

Musicians, dancers alfresco, phrenologists, etc., 
were less tiresome than being called upon to 
admire the performances of the children of certain 
households, the latent genius of whom was 
exhibited to the boredom of the guests. 

There were the charming garden parties at 
Fulham Palace, Lincoln's Inn, Osterley Park, 
Holland House, Ham House, and many other 
historic and beautiful places, while among the 
public functions the private view at the Academy 
seemed to me very interesting. 

I always tried to reach the Academy early, 
and spend a long afternoon there. The invited 
guests were met at the head of the staircase by 
two janitors in red robes, who offered a catalogue 
to the elect in exchange for their invitation card. 
The galleries were the fullest at about three 
o'clock, and the pictures were the excuse for 
chatter which filled the rooms like the droning 
of bees, 



68 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Prominent among the silhouettes of one of these 
characteristic crowds, I see in my mind's eye Mr. 
and Mrs. Gladstone, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge 
and his pretty wife, Lady Spencer, Lady 
Randolph Churchill, Mrs. Corn wallis- West, 
Herkomer, Marcus Stone, Whistler, Miss Braddon, 
Kate Greenaway, Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, Mr. and 
Mrs. Bancroft, with many other celebrities of 
yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow, who arrived, to 
come and go, to pause, chat, look at the pictures, 
and to exchange impressions. 

I once saw there a well-known Jewish financier, 
much patronised by the Royal Family, take up 
his position firmly in front of his own full-length 
portrait, where he remained all the afternoon. 
He bowed affably at all the praise which was 
meant more for the artist's work than for the 
model. Before tearing himself away from the 
contemplation of his picture he shrugged his 
shoulders and ejaculated with a sigh : " Die 
elenden Dinger dauern langer wie wir ! " (" The 
wretched things last longer than we do "). In 
those days the language of the Fatherland was 
not taboo — quite the reverse. 

In connection with the Academy Soirees, I 
remember attending one of them with Lady 
Sandison, wife of the chief dragoman of the 
British Embassy, at Constantinople, who was on 
a short visit to London for the first time. She 
was a most vivacious foreigner, keenly interested 
in everything and everybody, and bent on utilising 
to the full every moment of her holiday. 

We had spent the afternoon together at a 
garden party given by Mrs. Walford, the well- 
known authoress, at her charming home, Cran- 
brook Hall, Ilford, where many famous people 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 69 

had been introduced to Lady Sandison. She was 
very tired in the evening, and said she would 
prefer sitting still in the first room at the Academy, 
and watching the people come and go, but begged 
me to circuler an peu and talk to my friends. 

I complied with her request. On rejoining her 
after a time I was surprised to find her in animated 
conversation with six or eight people, as she was 
an absolute stranger here. 

Her explanation amused me very much. She 
said that everybody had watched her, and 
wondered who she was, until one lady approached 
her and asked her if she were the French Ambassa- 
dress. When she had replied that she came from 
Constantinople, the unknown lady had said : 
" Then perhaps you are the Countess de Monte- 
bello " (whose name she had doubtless never 
heard, but who happened to be the one being 
most envied and admired by Lady Sandison). 

" At last I told them who I was," she said, 
" and of course they knew all about me." 

She quite believed this little fiction, and I took 
care not to undeceive her. 

Another visitor to London that year was a 
certain Madame de Hobe, wife of one of the 
Sultan's aides-de-camp at Constantinople. She 
was a great deal at our Embassy, but, although 
German, she did not go near the German Embassy, 
as her husband had fallen into disfavour on 
account of a certain amount of friction in social 
matters at the German Embassy at Constant- 
inople. She was much interested in London life 
and said she would like to pass the " evening of 
her days " in England, a wish that of course will 
now hardly be possible. 

The Turkish secretaries often accompanied my 



70 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

husband and myself to evening parties. When 
these were in the neighbourhood of Bryanston 
Square, we frequently walked home through the 
Park on beautiful summer nights, or to speak more 
correctly, mornings, for very often the small 
hours were growing big, and the Covent Garden 
carts were rumbling citywards. 

I remember one of those walks when we were 
returning from Dudley House, after Park Lane 
had begun to be spoken of as " Kaffir Lane." 

We had received invitations for the first enter- 
tainment given there by a South African 
millionaire and his wife, coupled with the name 
and compliments of the chief social promoter of the 
day. 

The floral decorations that evening were carried 
out in mauve orchids, the exquisite blossoms of 
which entirely covered the banisters of the stair- 
case, all mantelpieces, etc., and gladdened the eye 
with touches of the delicate colour wherever one 
looked. 

The gorgeously dressed hostess wore a magnifi- 
cent diamond tiara, the height of which rather 
reminded one of a nursery fender. She was all 
smiles and graciousness, and was evidently keenly 
interested in the arrival and welcome of the 
numerous guests, the majority of which she now 
met for the first time. 

The best artists of the day, including Sarah 
Bernhardt, Albani, Lloyd, etc., had been engaged 
at fabulous prices, and performed on a large white 
platform, on which stood a white grand-piano. 

After the concert hot supper was served at 
little round tables in the dining-room. Each 
table was most artistically decorated with flowers, 
in the midst of which were fixed shaded bulbs of 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 71 

electric light — then a novelty. " All London " 
was there, and at one time the heat and the 
crowd were quite overpowering. 

It was quite a relief to emerge at last into 
Park Lane, and cross the road to enter the Park. 

A brother of one of the Turkish secretaries who 
was on a visit to London, was with us, and the 
moon floating high above us in midsummer pomp 
appealed to him in a manner which opened the 
flood-gates of his speech, and revealed a side of 
the Turkish character which hitherto had been 
a sealed book to me. 

He was evidently suffering from nostalgia. He 
dwelt upon the " nightingale-haunted cypresses " 
which stood sentinel in the picturesque cemetery 
that enfolded his dead. 

The woman he had loved had answered to the 
distant call of the " Unavoidable One." 

" Useless the presence of others, when we lack 
the one we need. Memories but increase the ache 
of loneliness," he said mournfully. 

He looked like any other well-dressed fashion- 
able man of the world, but the veneer of the West 
merely cloaked the intense passions of the East, 
which so seldom found utterance when in com- 
pany with Westerns. 

As he looked up at the moonlit sky he sighed 
for the wonder-nights of that Queen of Cities on 
the Bosphorus, where this same moon in a deep 
indigo sky threw her gleaming mantle over hills 
and trembling waters, the purple depths of which 
were strewn with glittering stars. 

He told us as we sauntered towards Great 
Cumberland Place, that an old soothsayer, who 
sat daily in the bazaars near the Mosque of books, 
had prophesied his coming to London long before 



72 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

he had thought of doing so, and had given him 
a dissertation on life and ambition in the form of 
the following legend : 

" Some men are searching all their lives for the 
Singing Tree, the music of which has been wafted 
to their ears. It vibrates in the most secret 
chords of the heart, and sings of Ambition, of 
Riches, of Love. It is the voice of Destiny, and 
everybody follows its call. 

" A certain man did not wait for this, but went 
out to look for it, which is a mistake. At last he 
beheld it far away, and heard the rustling of 
strange music in the wings of the flying wind, 
music which spoke to the dweller in the depths 
of him. At last he reached up and tore off one of 
the branches, all of which were singing of Joy and 
Pain. 

" ' I shall carry my happiness with me, wherever 
I go,' he exclaimed joyfully as he wandered 
on, his eyes fixed upon the branch which he 
held aloft, and the music of which entranced his 
soul. He did not see the precipice which he was 
nearing, and suddenly his feet stepped into a void, 
while the wind carried the branch away from 
him." 

' I suppose your romantic soothsayer was 
thinking of the land of the Impossible ? " I 
suggested. " And really that which we dream 
is sometimes more important than that which we 
do. Illusion is Life." 

" Perhaps he wanted to convey a salutary 
lesson regarding the wisdom of focusing one's 
gaze on the road one is called upon to tread," 
added my husband, always level-headed and 
sensible. 

" It's all Kismet," said Ali Bey, as the Embassy 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 73 

hall-porter left his comfortable hooded chair in 
the entrance-hall to open the door to us. 

In spite of the lateness of the hour, we all 
three remained for a time chatting in the reception- 
room to the left of the grand staircase, trying 
to find for our melancholy friend, who took his 
pleasures so sadly in this fit of spiritual indigestion, 
consolations which unfortunately did not console. 

" This London life," said Ali Bey, " in spite of 
its novelty and excitement, never absorbs my 
thoughts, and in the densest crowds I feel always 
a mere spectator, while my brain is incessantly 
occupied with the problems of life, and the curse 
of thought which has become my master instead 
of my servant." 

" Why not take life simply as it presents itself, 
without so much analysis ? " said my husband. 
" Everybody can school himself to be master of 
the strange guest we must all carry about with us — 
our inward soul." 

" You always strike me," he continued to the 
man who had given us a glimpse of his inner life, 
and who was the victim of passion, of absence, 
and of separation, "as if you were robbing the 
present by harking back continually to some past 
grievance or past sorrow. Often this is due to a 
habit of thought, and some people like rocking 
themselves in a cradle of grievances. The mind 
has such power over the body that it can sap 
bodily health, and the subtlety of the human 
brain is so great, that one often persuades one's self 
that one is badly treated by Fate on account of 
a grievance one would not part with at any 
price." 

" You are quite right," said Ali Bey, laughing. 
" I suffer agonies of torment quarrelling mentally 



74 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

with an absent friend, until the paroxysm of dis- 
cord has reached its highest pitch. Then suddenly 
I mentally forgive, and without a word having 
been spoken, the brain seems miraculously clear 
of its misery." 

" He sounds to me rather hysterical," I said to 
my husband as we mounted the staircase leading 
to our own rooms, " and his brain is evidently 
addled by some idee fixe." 

" Not necessarily that," he replied ; " the 
intricacies of the Oriental mind swing like a 
pendulum between subtlety and childlike sim- 
plicity." 

" Which sounds a paradox," I laughed, dis- 
missing the subject of Oriental mentality from my 
mind, and reflecting that I would never waste 
time by quarrelling with my amis de songes when 
meeting them in my inner life. 

We heard the sleepy hall-porter cross the hall 
to go downstairs to his room. No doubt some of 
the servants were still amusing themselves, and 
not thinking of going to bed. 

The question of domestics in most Embassies 
is complicated by many difficulties, as different 
nationalities mix, but do not mingle, below-stairs. 

At our Embassy an elderly housekeeper, who 
ultimately discussed matters with me, managed 
the female portion of the community. Most of 
the women-servants would not remain longer 
than two years, no matter how comfortable they 
were. They said it would make it too difficult for 
them to settle down in other places if they did. 
The butler managed the men, and one saw new 
faces often enough. 

The Turkish valet neither sought nor found 
companionship with the other servants. I often 



INCIDENTS OF LONDON LIFE 75 

wondered at his imperturbable self-possession and 
inscrutable placidity when he was roundly scolded 
by his master, while the most terrible Turkish 
imprecations were hurled at him about his 
ancestors and maternal relatives. Some of these 
phrases grew so familiar to my ears that, without 
knowing their meaning, I rapped them out when 
my husband and I were playing bridge with the 
secretaries. Their amusement and horror I shall 
never forget, nor the real scolding my husband 
gave me afterwards. " But I heard it daily," I 
answered, " and never dreamed what it could 
mean." 

When Rustem Pacha first arrived in London, 
several ladies wished to give him the benefit of 
their experience regarding domestic matters. 
Prominent among them was a Mrs. H., who, with 
her husband, had been his guests in Syria, and had 
stayed in the Palace of Beit-Eddin, while he was 
Governor-General there. 

As the H.'s had unfortunately suffered great 
pecuniary loss owing to the failure of a well-known 
bank in which their fortune was invested, Mrs. 
H. was anxious to act as superintendent of all 
the Turkish Embassy servants. As her vocation 
for reform amounted to an absolute mania, and 
as she drove us all nearly distracted by her visits 
at unexpected hours when she gave free play to 
her verbosity, she was at length politely but 
firmly informed that her assistance was not 
required. She meant well, and gave at least one 
piece of sound advice, when she warned the 
Ambassador about engaging servants recom- 
mended by late employers as " absolute treasures," 
because, as a rule, wages formed the smallest item 
in the conception of values entertained by these 



76 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

individuals, while perquisites usually exceeded 
the amount agreed upon. 

There was a great deal of waste it seemed 
impossible to control, and at last the Pacha 
engaged a chef who agreed to feed everybody — 
masters and servants — at so much per head. " No 
board wages to the servants, but an agreement 
with the chef," was the only time he really had 
peace from servant worries. 

During this chef's reign the food upstairs was 
always excellent — no amount of impromptu guests 
seemed to matter, while as the servants never 
made a complaint, directly or indirectly, we 
supposed the plan acted as admirably down- 
stairs as it did upstairs. 

Rustem Pacha was quite right when he said 
that experience cannot be conveyed. Each one 
must acquire it in his or her own way. Every- 
body looked at life through different spectacles 
and had different requirements. There were, no 
doubt, very many abuses in the servants' hall, 
but he wisely refrained from investigating them 
too closely, on the principle that so long as the 
main things were run on the lines he wished, one 
could leave a certain margin for the non-perfection 
of details. 



CHAPTER V 

DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 

IN the cosmopolitan milieu of the Embassy 
I had ample opportunity of reflection upon 
the effect of geography on national ideas of 
festivity — and of mourning. With the Roman 
Catholic Ambassador and Councillor, and the 
Mahomedan and Armenian secretaries, psychologi- 
cal surprises were the order of the day, and one 
gained the conviction that everything, even a 
standard of morality, was dependent on it. 

All the officials, Mahomedan and Christian, 
telegraphed good wishes to head-quarters on the 
occasion of the Festival of Bairam, and received 
courteous telegrams in return. 

Both the Fast of Ramadan and the Feast of 
Bairam were observed by the Mohamedans in 
London, perhaps with all the added fervour of 
exiles. 

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Mahomedan 
year, and the Mussulman's Lent or Holy Month. 
The Faithful are then enjoined to fast from 
sunrise to sunset, and some of the more devout 
even refrain from swallowing their saliva at 
these times. 

The Times once published the following sen- 
tence, which is rather severe in its criticism : 

" November is the financial Ramadan of the 
Sublime Porte. That is, when the Turkish 

77 



78 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Government promises all kinds of financial reforms 
and curtailments." 

The name Bairam is given to two movable 
Moslem feasts. The first of these, generally called 
the Greater Bairam, is the day following the 
Ramadan, or month of fasting. Strictly speaking, 
it lasts only for one day, but the generality of the 
lower orders extend it to three. It is a period of 
the maddest enjoyment, and rather resembles 
the Catholic Carnival. That which is usually 
known as the Lesser Bairam follows the first at 
an interval of sixty days and lasts four days. 
It is the Feast of Sacrifices, as at Mecca the 
Mahomedans then commemorate Abraham's offer 
of Isaac by the sacrificial offering of animals. 
Like the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, it is a time 
given up to congratulations and enjoyment. 

As there was at this time no mosque in England, 
the Imam of the Embassy was referred to in all 
matters connected with Islamism. Before the 
Woking mosque was inaugurated, Ottoman religi- 
ous services were frequently held at one or 
another of the London hotels. 

For many years the Embassy priest went about 
London wearing his national turban and robes, 
and it gave me quite a shock when I met him 
again, in English tall silk hat and frock-coat, after 
an absence of ten years from London. 

" My coat is sufficiently like the stambouline," 
he said, half apologetically, as if to impress upon 
me that, although he had become very anglicised, 
he wished to retain the diginity of his sacerdotal 
office. 

I thought of the days when in long robe and 
turban he had spent his leisure in walking up 
and down the garden of Bryanston Square, telling 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 79 

his beads, and beckoning to my little boy to join 
him there. 

He officiated in the rare cases of English con- 
verts to Islamism, among whom there are men 
well-known in the English peerage. They are 
admitted to the Mohamedan faith with imposing 
ritual, and are given Eastern names which they 
always use in intercourse with Mohamedans. 

There were a few marriages here between 
English people and Mahomedan Turks, and then 
the Turkish Consul-General in London, as well as 
the priest, were called upon in their official 
capacity. 

For many years before a Turkish consul de 
carriere was sent to London, the post was in the 
hands of a Syrian, Mr. Paul Gadban, who un- 
fortunately lost his sight. He was succeeded by 
Mr. Grant Watson, whose wife was a very 
popular London hostess. 

All the members of the Embassy were invited 
once to assist at a wedding in London which took 
place according to the rites of the Armenian 
Church, between members of two prominent 
Armenian families residing here. 

The ceremony began at ten o'clock at night in 
the Whitehall rooms of the Hotel Metropole. It 
was preceded by a large dinner party of about 
eighty guests, who were received by the father 
and mother of the bride in a room adjoining the 
dining-room. Shortly before eight o'clock, the 
bride entered on the arm of her father. She wore 
a dress of Irish white satin brocade trimmed with 
flounces of Honiton lace. A wreath of orange 
blossoms was upon her hair, and beneath the 
bridal veil long fringes of beaten silver were 
fastened on each side of the brow and reached to. 



80 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

the ground. This was in accordance with an old 
Armenian custom, which demands that the bridal 
veil shall be of glimmering silver. The effect was 
most picturesque. 

At eight o'clock a procession was formed to 
proceed to the dining-room. It was headed by 
the bride and bridegroom, and the bijou orchestra 
played the Wedding March until all the guests 
were seated. Numerous toasts were proposed 
during and after dinner, when the wedding party 
and the guests returned to the reception room. 
Here two venerable Armenian priests in full 
sacerdotal robes performed the marriage ceremony. 

The bride and bridegroom stood upon a small 
square of richly embroidered silk ; two enormous 
candles decorated with white tulle and flowers 
were held by the younger brothers of the bride. 
The service was chanted in an impressive manner 
by the priests, while the bride and bridegroom 
stood facing each other, their foreheads touching. 
Throughout the service the best man held a cross 
above their heads. After the conclusion of the 
ceremony the newly married couple received 
congratulations and embraces of their many 
friends. 

How different are the various ways of celebrating 
birth, marriage, and death, according to nation- 
ality, was impressed upon me by the remarks of 
the Turks when London was plunged into mourn- 
ing by the lamented death of the Duke of Clarence. 

" With us," said Ali Bey, " death is not regarded 
as a misfortune. It is the opening of the gates of 
life, and the poor clay which encased the soul is 
enfolded in a clean linen sheet, and laid as quickly 
as possible in the earth, to mingle with the dust — 
to give rebirth in other forms. No coffin hampers 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 81 

this natural process. We do not wear the depres- 
sing black garments which now make the streets so 
dismal-looking. A beautiful soul has been de- 
livered from this world of disappointment and 
sadness, and translated to brighter spheres. We 
wear white when our dear ones are called away, 
white-handed hope fills our hearts. In Persia 
the people wear a colour resembling withered 
leaves — man has fallen from the Tree of Life and 
mingles with the earth. In Syria and Armenia 
those who mourn the dead — and these are in the 
minority — often don sky-blue garments to express 
the hope that their dear ones are in heaven." 

The Turks commented upon the fact that during 
a period of Court mourning all the diplomatic 
ladies were garbed in black. In Berlin no black 
was ever allowed at Court — not even the most 
diaphanous of black tulle ball-dresses, so becom- 
ing to the wearer, was permitted. No matter 
how deep the mourning, it was always laid aside 
for attendance at Court. 

This custom, so I heard, is carried out at the 
Danish Court, where also no black is allowed. 
But here the wives of noblemen and high officials 
are permitted to wear a high peaked head-dress 
when in mourning. In Sweden both black and 
white seem to lose their significance as emblems 
of grief, for at the Swedish Court dancing ladies 
wear white, and non-dancing ones black. 

In 1892 some very interesting specimens of 
mandrake roots were sent to us from Syria, and 
after having them photographed, the Ambassador 
sent the best specimens of them to the Queen, 
who was much interested in them. She had them 
forwarded to Kew Gardens in the hope they 
might flourish there. 



82 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Countless legends have been woven round these 
curious growths, which are mentioned in the 
Bible, in Shakespeare, and in various well-known 
books in connection with love philters, madness, 
and questions of maternity. 

In Syria, where they flourish best, the natives 
believe that the roots contain the souls of suicides, 
condemned to work out their salvation in long 
years of waiting beneath the soil, and which shriek 
when dragged out of the earth before their time. 
These roots resemble in shape miniature human 
beings, and when looking at them one is really 
inclined to believe the wildest theories. 

As the person who hears their shriek while 
disturbing them is supposed to be accursed, and 
dogged by misfortune, the Syrian natives, when 
extracting them, tie one end of a long rope round 
the stem of the plant, and the other end round 
the neck of a dog, which is whipped up to a brisk 
run until the roots lie palpitating above the 
ground. 

The specimens we received were barklike in 
texture, and weirdly human in appearance. The 
female mandrake root produces small leaves 
resembling lettuces which have a disagreeable 
smell. The male mandrake, often called morion, 
or madness, produces a berry of the colour of 
saffron. Its leaves are wide, white, and soft, and 
the odour of them induces lethargy and stupe- 
faction. 

Mrs. Campbell Praed wrote her novel, The 
Insane Root, around the roots which I had kept, 
and which fired her imagination when I showed 
them to her. Little by little they crumbled away, 
until nothing remained of them but some brown 
powder. 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 83 

During the whole of 1894, Rustem Pacha's 
health steadily declined, but he tried to keep pace 
with his social and political duties. 

The mise en seine of life was always to him a 
matter of great importance. 

The last time I saw him at any big social 
function was at Chesham House, when for the 
first time he requested the support of my husband's 
arm before attempting to descend the staircase. 
I can see him now, my tall husband bending down 
to him with solicitous affection, supporting one 
hand of the Pacha in his bent arm, while the other 
one rested on the banister — and the brilliant 
smile of the veteran diplomatist as he bid " good- 
bye " to the great world. For as we returned 
homewards he said to us : 

" This is the last time I shall go to these 
fatiguing functions. One must recognise the 
psychological moment, and be the first to say 
farewell." 

From that time onwards he was almost always 
in the hands of his medical advisers. The chief of 
these was Dr. Robson Roose, who called regularly 
once or twice a day, and often arranged a con- 
sultation with one specialist or another. The 
money spent on doctor's fees was simply fabulous, 
yet, as there was no organic disease to treat — 
merely the war against Anno Domini — not all 
their science and assiduity could make the flicker- 
ing flame of the lamp of life leap into lasting 
vitality, nor arrest the advance of the clock of 
destiny. 

All through the foggy winter of that year huge 
fires were kept blazing in all the rooms, and blinds 
were often drawn for days at a time. A few old 
friends braved the inclemency of the weather and 



84 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

dropped in to chat with him. He was always 
delighted to welcome the genial Belgian Minister, 
Baron Solvyns, who was perpetually in good 
spirits, and who often chaffed me about reading 
novels, saying that he preferred to " live his 
romances." 

The long evenings were spent quietly in the 
Ambassador's study, where the soft light of the 
tall colza lamps gleamed on the polished round 
table with its inviting litter of books, periodicals, 
and daily papers. These, with needlework, helped 
to pass the many silent hours when the Pacha 
dozed over a paper, or frankly devoted himself to 
audible slumbers. He always showed a cheerful 
face to the world, especially during this latter 
part of his life in London, when the limelight was 
so full upon him and his Imperial Master for 
many trying and anxious months. 

He combined in himself the training of both 
East and West, and was in office at a time when 
it was openly said that Turkey only existed by 
diplomatic agreement. He had to cope with the 
hydra-headed Armenian question, a crisis in the 
history of Turkey far greater than that which 
led to the intervention of the Great Powers in the 
Lebanon. He did much to maintain amicable 
relations between this country and the one he 
represented, but the deep-seated diseases of an 
Empire cannot be cured as by the wave of a 
magician's wand. 

In the spring of 1895 the Government provided 
funds for the much-needed painting and re- 
decorating of the Embassy, the dinginess of which 
was often commented upon. 

In June of that year we accompanied the 
Pacha to a villa in Hampstead, leaving the great 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 85 

corner house in the hands of decorators. He took 
with him several servants, a nurse- valet, and two 
trained women nurses, who attended him night 
and day, although until almost the last he refused 
to remain in bed. 

My husband went to and fro daily to the 
Chancery to superintend business and the work 
of the secretaries, who had all remained in town. 

I passed most of my time with the Ambassador. 
We drove together daily in his victoria, taking 
interminable drives round Hampstead Heath and 
its neighbourhood, where I grew to know almost 
every tree and hedgerow by heart. He always 
got up for lunch at two o'clock, which was served 
in state for us two. I see him still in my mind's 
eye, sitting opposite at the table which was 
always decorated with flowers and fruit. Piti- 
fully frail, but alert, his fez on one side, an oyster 
on his poised fork, he always chose that time in 
which to give me lengthy instructions in case of 
his sudden demise. I had to promise to drive at 
once with his body back to the Embassy, and 
personally see that he was laid upon his bed 
there, and covered with the Turkish flag. 

Dish after dish went out untasted. These 
discussions made me ill, as every imaginable 
disease and contingency were talked of. For 
many months he himself was only able to partake 
of oysters and turtle soup, yet he insisted on 
meals being served with the greatest ceremony, 
and was tenacious of every detail. 

His one great preoccupation was that he 
might die before the Embassy was ready to 
receive him. 

Night after night we were called up from sleep 
to his bedside to bid him farewell, until the health 



86 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

of my poor overworked husband was in a fair way 
to becoming seriously undermined. 

On one of our long drives the Pacha caught a 
chill, which unfortunately settled on his lungs. 
The paint was scarcely dry at the Embassy, yet 
we all posted up to town at an hour's notice, and 
two days afterwards he died. 

During those two days, when his doctors 
scarcely left him, the continuous stream of callers 
at the Embassy included messengers from the 
Queen, Prince Christian, the Prince of Wales, the 
Duke of York, the Duke of Cambridge, and 
several members of the Government. 

Bulletins were telegraphed to the Sultan at 
Constantinople in response to the following tele- 
gram which my husband received from Yildiz 
Kiosk : 

" Ordre de Sa Majeste Imperiale le Sultan, je 
vous prie de me faire savoir immediatement 
l'etat de sante de Son Excellence Rustem Pacha, 
ainsi que l'avis des medecins sur la maladie dont 
il souffre. Vous etes charge de dire en raeme temps 
a son Excellence que son indisposition vient de 
causer un vif regret a Notre Auguste Souverain 
et que Sa Majeste vient demander de ses nouvelles. 

Premier Secretaire, 

Tahsin." 

The Reverend Canon Barry came to see him 
several times, and on the night of November 19th 
administered to him the last Sacraments. He 
died at three o'clock of the morning of the 20th. 

We were with him to the last, and I shall never 
forget my husband's farewell to his dearly loved 
Chief and lifelong friend, when he bent down to 
kiss the dead hand, saying : " Adieu, Excellence." 




RUSTEM TACIIA IN EUROPEAN DRESS 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 87 

The Marquess of Salisbury in a speech at 
Brighton, which was a requiem of honour and 
became historical, paid a great tribute to his 
abilities. He referred to him as one of those 
" upright and able statesmen whom the Ottoman 
Empire produced from epoch to epoch." He 
spoke of his able Governorship of the Lebanon 
when it was torn by dissensions of race and creed, 
and how, " by a combination of firmness, justice, 
and conciliation he brought peace to that dis- 
tracted country, and induced those who had 
never lived except at war with each other, to 
exist in unity and follow their industries to- 
gether." 

By his own request his remains were laid to 
rest in London. England was always very near 
his heart. He wished his obsequies to be con- 
ducted with all the pomp due to his exalted rank, 
for he had lived and died in the fierce light of the 
great world, whose opinions and verdicts meant 
so much to him. 

He was the first Turkish Ambassador to be 
buried on English soil, and great preparations 
were made for the ceremony by the Court and the 
Foreign Office. 

He was dressed in full uniform, the Grand 
Cordon of the Medjidieh across his breast, and lay 
in state for two days on his bier at the Embassy. 
His room was transformed into a chapel, tall 
candles burned at his head and feet, and sweet- 
faced nuns prayed incessantly at his side. 

Many of his friends came here to bid him a last 
farewell. The alchemy of death had effaced all 
traces of the past difficult years. 

Peace, dignity, and an expression of ineffable 
happiness and repose transformed the familiar 



88 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

face, which I had only known as old, and so very 
weary. 

The whole of the Embassy Staff, and the Consul, 
Emin Effendi, were present when, immediately 
after his decease, telegrams conveying the news 
had to be sent to Constantinople and all official 
quarters. Letters of condolence poured in to my 
husband, who was Charge d'Affaires, and we 
worked for hours at the desk near the aviary, 
where so many interesting hours had been spent 
in the past. 

The Russian Ambassador, M. de Staal, who was 
doyen, wrote on behalf of the corps diplomatique, 
and personal letters came from Count Hatzfeldt, 
M. de Ferrerez (Italian Ambassador), M. de Bille 
(Denmark), Lord Kimberley, Sir Thomas Sander- 
son, and many others. Lord Rosebery penned 
his " regret at the death of that noble old gentle- 
man," and Lord Glenesk (Sir Algernon Borthwick) 
wrote : "I deplore the loss of a good man such 
as we can ill spare in these times." 

The spot chosen for his interment was St. Mary's 
Roman Catholic churchyard in Kensal Green, 
where my husband has erected a monument to 
his memory. 

The night before his funeral the coffin, covered 
with the Turkish flag, was carried down the broad 
staircase and conveyed to St. James's Church, 
Spanish Place, where at eleven o'clock next day 
the funeral service was held. 

A detachment of one hundred Grenadier Guards 
with full band, drummers, and colours, formed 
a guard of honour at the entrance of the church, 
over the porch of which the White Crescent on 
scarlet background was tied with crepe. 

Representatives of Royalty, the entire corps 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 89 

diplomatique in full uniform, and many personal 
friends attended the requiem Mass, Mr. R. Synge, 
of the Foreign Office, and my husband receiving 
them in the aisle. Besides the Queen's representa- 
tive, Lord George Hamilton, Mr. Curzon, Sir 
Percy Anderson, and Mr. Barrington, represented 
the Foreign Office. 

The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, in his 
full episcopal robes and scarlet biretta, pronounced 
the Absolution at the close of the impressive 
service. 

As I stood in the church with the chief mourners, 
my little son at my side, and saw the many people 
assembled here to do him the last honours, I 
thought of him as I last saw him when silence and 
twilight had claimed him for their own, and when 
I reverently laid in his folded hands a little 
envelope containing a lock of hair, upon which 
long ago he had written, " Cheveux de ma ftauvre 
mere." 

We had found this touching memento of his 
affection for his mother when, in accordance with 
his instructions, we looked through his personal 
papers immediately after his death. 

I thought of this, too, when at last the organ 
throbbed forth the terrible strains of the " Dead 
March in Saul," and his mortal remains were 
borne down the aisle. As he was taken to his last 
resting-place, the band outside crashed forth 
Chopin's " March Funebre," and the curtain was 
rung down on the varied life of Lucien Antoine 
Chimelli de Marini, known to England as Rustem 
Pacha. 

The higher ranks of the Turkish Service in every 
department were then mainly made up of men who 
came from other countries. The Ottoman Empire 



go FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

must have broken up long ago but for its foreign 
generals and its foreign statesmen. Russia, too, 
had its great men of foreign origin, such as 
Marshal Bruce, who was of Scotch extraction, 
while M. de Giers and M. de Staal were members 
of the subject-races of the Baltic shores. 

My little son and I drove straight back to the 
Embassy from the church, the child carrying one 
of the black velvet cushions upon which were fixed 
the Ambassador's various decorations. I carried 
a second cushion and his sword. Among the 
wealth of beautiful wreaths laid upon his grave, 
the floral emblem sent by the Baroness Burdett- 
Coutts held the following inscription : "A fare- 
well tribute to a valued and personal friend, and 
the faithful Ambassador of a great and friendly 
nation." 

We reached the Embassy in a few minutes, but 
it was some time before we gained admittance. 

The hall-porter had deserted his post and was 
carousing with the other servants below stairs. 
After all, the Master was only a foreigner, and 
probably many of them would soon be leaving ! 

My boy and I — he was then about seven — went 
up the staircase side by side, carrying home the 
trophies of the dead man's earthly glory. 

In the big empty drawing-rooms all the blinds 
were drawn, and we crossed to the window where 
the aviary stood, and looked down Upper George 
Street where the funeral cortege had slowly 
wended its way. Strange, solemn moments for a 
little boy to pass through ! He had loved his 
godfather, and his serious little face told me that 
he understood that something great had passed 
out of his life. 

About an hour and a half later my husband 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 91 

returned with all those who had accompanied him 
to the cemetery. 

The Embassy's legal adviser, Mr. Bourchier 
Hawksley, then opened and read the Ambassador's 
will, which was quickly proved, in spite of all the 
complications attendant on the intricacies of 
international law. 

Many and varied were the different reports 
regarding the origin of the great man who had 
just passed away, and probably we were the only 
people who knew the truth. Son of an Italian 
father and Greek mother, his early life had been 
occupied in the study of languages, for which he 
had an extraordinary facility, and in qualifying 
in the school of life for the varied parts he was 
called upon to fill during his long and eventful 
existence. When still almost a boy he accom- 
panied Tahir Pacha on the expedition which 
established the suzerainty of the Caliph on an 
effective basis in Tripoli. Later on, he attracted 
the notice of the great Fuad Pacha, the most 
conspicuous Turkish statesman of the time, and 
served him for some years in the capacity of 
private secretary. He then assisted in the 
reorganization of the Danubian principalities, and 
the pacification of Epirus and Thessaly. 

In 1870 he was entrusted with a special mission 
to Rome on the occasion of the Vatican Council 
discussing the question of the Christian com- 
munities in Turkey. He had been happier under 
the reign of Sultan Abdul Aziz than he was 
under the much-discussed monarch, Abdul Hamid, 
whose centralized system of Palace rule was a 
fatal stumbling-block to the best efforts of his 
representatives abroad. 

Rust em Pacha realized to the full that, although 



92 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

personally he had earned a name among the 
statesmen of Europe, his final post had been 
clouded by failure — failure largely due to the 
handicap of circumstances. His loyalty to his 
adopted country never permitted a word of 
disparagement of it in his presence, and to the 
last, he fought valiantly for a cause in which he 
could no longer believe. 

For fourteen years he was persona grata at the 
Italian Court under Victor Emmanuel, and during 
the few years of his sojourn in Russia he was in 
close contact with Czar Alexander II. 

Immediately following his death, there were 
myriads of his private letters to be read by my 
husband and myself, in conjunction with the 
Embassy lawyer. These had to be sorted out, 
destroyed or preserved, according to verbal in- 
structions we had listened to so often in the past. 
Many tokens of personal interest were committed 
to the flames in deference to the wishes expressed 
by lips now sealed in death, and seldom had 
people been confronted, as we were, with more 
silent testimony of loneliness of spirit in the 
midst of, apparently, the most favoured of lives. 

My husband remained for some time in London 
as Charge d' Affaires. After the nomination of the 
new Ambassador, he was appointed Councillor of 
the Embassy in Berlin, where he was to take the 
post occupied by Rifaat Bey, who was to replace 
him here in London. 

In the spring of 1896, the new Turkish Am- 
bassador, Costaki Anthopoulos Pacha arrived in 
London. He was a Greek who had been for many 
years at the head of the Turkish Naval School at 
Halki. He was accompanied by his wife and a 
new staff of secretaries. He did his best to induce 




CO^TAKI ANTHOPOULOS PACHA, TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND 

IN 1896 



DEATH OF RUSTEM PACHA 93 

my husband to remain with him in London, 
but one experience of being " Ghost Ambassador " 
was quite sufficient for a lifetime, and my husband 
preferred to continue his career on more indepen- 
dent lines elsewhere. 

Costaki Pacha's stay in London was of short 
duration, for he died of pneumonia when on leave 
in Constantinople a few years after his appoint- 
ment. 

On ne change Hen d la destinee, and we followed 
our star, which led us to the land that was to play 
such a sinister role in modern times. When 
faced with the prospect of building up one's home 
anew in a foreign country, the question of the 
transport of one's belongings becomes a matter 
of vital discussion. Dumb things, eloquent of 
memories, are difficult to part with. I often 
wonder whether some improved form of pho- 
nography could possibly liberate conversations 
and events impressed upon walls and furniture. 
Science has performed many miracles, and con- 
versations between animate and inanimate things 
may perhaps one day be recorded ! 

At last our furniture and possessions were 
sorted out, packed in vans, sealed with the 
Embassy laisser passer, and provided with heavy 
hooks for the purpose of swinging them intact 
from railroad to ship, and vice-versa, were ready 
to start. The same excellent man who packed 
them unloaded them at the door of our flat in 
Berlin, undisturbed by Customs' officials. 1 Every- 
thing had been packed so scientifically that not 
even a teacup was cracked, nor anything injured 
in the slightest degree. 

1 The effects of Ambassadors and their entourage are not 
subject to Customs examination. 



94 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

We bade farewell to London and our many 
friends there with much regret, wondering what 
our life would be in a country of which we had 
little or no experience. 



CHAPTER VI 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN 

WE arrived in Berlin during the hot 
summer of 1896, and took up our 
abode in the Hotel Kaiserhof, while 
we looked about for a suitable residence. 

The Ambassador, Ghalib Bey, lived in the 
Leipziger Platz, where we were astonished to see 
that the Embassy quarters were in the house of a 
rich newspaper proprietor, who had reserved the 
imposing first-floor for his own use. The ground- 
floor and basement of the house were occupied 
by the Chancery offices which held the archives, 
while the top of the house contained quarters 
for the Ambassador, his personal servants, and 
one or two secretaries. On the ground floor my 
husband had his own workroom, a well-furnished, 
square apartment looking out on the Platz. 

As we were at liberty to choose our own dwell- 
ing-place, frais de logement being added to frais 
de nourriture and salary, we decided not to avail 
ourselves of the Ambassador's offer of a suite of 
rooms in the Embassy. My husband was delighted 
to hear that the political work in Berlin was far 
less arduous than it had been in London. Ger- 
many was on the best of terms with Turkey, and 
the officials in the Wilhelmstrasse always did 
their best to gloss over, rather than to aggravate 
any little difficulties which might crop up. Here 

95 



0.6 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

there was no Armenian question on the tapis, no 
political speeches to be translated — chiefly a 
weekly resume of topical events and interchange 
of civilities. 

I was much relieved to know that my husband 
would now have a chance of strengthening his 
health and nerves, both of which had suffered 
severely under the long strain of our London life. 
For the first time since our marriage we could 
look forward to a quiet home life of our own. 

We were charmed with our first impressions of 
Berlin. 

The wide, clean, asphalted roads, the imposing- 
looking symmetrical buildings, the many streets 
lined with trees, and the exquisite Tiergarten 
(the Hyde Park of Berlin), all presented a general 
air of gaiety and prosperity. 

Society was just then conspicuous by its 
absence. The landed proprietors were still at 
their country places, and only arrived in Berlin 
at the beginning of winter. 

The season, which began in the New Year and 
ended with the commencement of Lent, was the 
only time when the Court and Society were 
en evidence. 

Thus we had leisure to look for a flat, and to 
settle down quietly before getting to know 
people. 

Neither the Ambassador, nor any of the secre- 
taries, all of whom were Turkish, were married, 
and I again found myself the only woman at the 
Embassy. 

We decided that our boy should be educated 
at the French Gymnasium, on the Reichstagsufer 
facing the Spree, an institution founded by the 
Huguenots. The plan of studies differed from 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN 97 

that of the other schools, and most of the studies 
were made in French. 

My boy's governess, Miss Barett, had come 
with us, and very soon both of them were busy 
studying German, a task they found by no 
means easy. Indeed, on more than one occasion 
I found them on the verge of tears, grappling with 
the intricacies of German writing and German 
verbs. 

We eventually took up our abode in a new house 
in the Hindersinstrasse, a stone's throw from the 
Gymnasium. Four large rooms, en enfilade, faced 
the river ; they were lofty, with parquet flooring, 
and large faience chimney-pieces, which were 
built out into the room, and capable of burning 
open -log fires in front, and briquettes inside. 
This system allowed the maximum of heat to 
remain in the rooms, very little of it being lost 
in the chimneys. 

A long corridor divided these rooms from four 
good bedrooms, and a large oak-panelled dining- 
room, the usual " Berliner Zimmer." Behind this 
were the servants' quarters and kitchen, quite 
shut off from our own rooms by another corridor 
leading to the back staircase. 

There were only two other flats in the house, 
the main entrance was looked after and controlled 
by a married porter, who lived with his family in 
quarters looking on to the street. 

When we engaged our servants, who proved 
most excellent in every way, and remained with us 
for years, we were surprised at the low tariff of 
wages. Three hundred thaler (£15) were con- 
sidered as liberal wages for a very good cook. 
The question of their free time off duty filled us 
with amazement. One afternoon and evening 



98 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

every alternate Sunday, no weekly evening leisure 
whatever, and a week's holiday in the year. 

Each one presented me when I engaged them, 
and gave them a retaining fee of a thaler (3s.), 
with their service book, an official volume they 
were obliged by law to have. In it, the first page 
stated all particulars concerning themselves, birth- 
place, name, and occupation of their parents, age, 
appearance, etc. The rest of the book was 
sectioned off in divisions. In the first section, the 
name and address of the employer was stated, 
the others detailed the service, wages, reason for 
leaving last place, and character given on leaving. 
Upon change of situation each section was 
officially stamped by the police. 

On entering our service they had to fill in on 
three official papers, all particulars about them- 
selves and their new employers. These had to be 
stamped at the local police-court. We kept one 
copy, the police the other, and the servant the 
third. The same formalities were gone through 
when leaving, thus the movements and address of 
every servant were known to the authorities, and 
a change of situation a matter to be well considered 
and not casually treated. We also had to fill in 
papers about any visitors who remained with us 
longer than three days. 

Our servants all had insurance cards, and we 
were responsible for the weekly stamps. Even 
charwomen produced their insurance card to be 
stamped at any house at which they worked on 
Monday. All this red-tape seemed at first rather 
irksome, but we very soon got accustomed to it, 
and indeed felt that it gave everybody a safe, 
well-cared-for feeling. 

The diplomatic privilege here, as in other 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN 99 

capitals, commuted our taxes, a portion of which 
we paid direct to the Foreign Office, which trans- 
mitted it to the Treasury. 

Compared with London there seemed to be 
hardly any distances. One could walk to most 
places, through the clean, well-cared-for streets. 
Little open carriages and cosy horse-trams con- 
veyed one from the Linden to the Ranke Strasse, 
which then formed the confines of the city. 
Motors, taxis, and electric trams replaced these 
before we left Berlin. 

Education was at a very high standard. The 
public boarding-school system does not exist 
there ; it is replaced by the different Gymnasien 
and Realschulen, over which the State has control. 
A very moderate fee was charged for a first-class 
education, which was thus brought within the 
reach of rich and poor alike. The son of a general 
sat on the school-bench side by side with the son 
of a sweep, and all shared in the same scheme of 
tuition. 

Pupils were supposed to remain at school until 
they reached a certain standard, which entitled 
them to one year's service in the Army instead of 
three. Boys going into business, or any modest 
occupation, usually left with this Einjcihrig certifi- 
cate. 

The Abiturien examination was the culminating 
one for the first-class, and was quite on a par with 
English university standards. The Studiren, or 
subsequent university course, was optional. 

The hours were very strenuous, from seven a.m., 
winter and summer, until one or two o'clock. No 
afternoon school, but so much work to prepare 
that most people engaged a tutor for the afternoon 
to enable boys to keep pace. It was considered 



ioo FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

a dreadful tragedy if boys failed to be advance^ 
in class in due course. Suicide amongst schoolboys 
was at one time quite frequent. The poor dears, 
haunted by the sense of their own failure, and 
unable to face the wrath and punishment of stern 
parents, chose death as the only way out of their 
difficulties. 

Sentimentality and cruelty seemed to me to go 
hand in hand, as German parents spoilt their 
children in many ways by undue indulgence in 
pleasures, etc., and terrified them with threats of 
punishment if they did not succeed in getting 
versetzt (put up). 

The holidays were short. A month in summer, 
a week at Christmas, a few days at Whitsuntide. 
I always extended these for our boy, and had many 
a battle-royal with the headmaster, the Direktor 
Schulz (a relative of the famous Von Tirpitz), as 
we preferred our son to advance less rapidly and 
give more time to health and physical culture. 

Geography in the schools was taught upon a 
system which imparted first of all a thorough 
knowledge of Berlin. During our walks in the 
morning or afternoon, we often met parties of 
schoolboys, superintended by masters, in the 
Sieges Allee, which is lined on each side with 
statues of monarchs of the Hohenzollern dynasty. 
They halted at the base of one or another of these 
statues, where speeches were made by the tutors, 
and the youthful minds impressed with the para- 
mount importance of Germany (Deutschland uber 
A lies). 

When they knew Berlin by heart, its immediate 
surroundings were studied, and round this centre 
gravitated the knowledge of the rest of the globe. 
The circles of wisdom widened gradually around 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN 101 

this pebble in the pond of learning. The boys were 
taught a certain amount of strategy, and were 
instructed as to what policy should be adopted by 
the Fatherland in case Germany invaded England. 
Every boy of twelve or fourteen knew the value of 
Heligoland. 

National songs were part of the education, and 
from the age of six, when school was compulsory, 
the children were taught : " All I have and all I 
am, I owe to thee my Fatherland." They grew 
up with the idea and knowledge that they were 
merely a screw in a huge machine. Needless to 
add that all this influence in our own case was 
counteracted by our home life and incessant 
watchfulness. 

The theatre was included in the educational 
system. Scholars' tickets, at very cheap rates, 
were issued on Sunday afternoons for classical 
plays. Schiller and Shakespeare were favourite 
authors. 

Towards the latter part of our stay in Berlin, 
Ibsen's morbid tragedies figured largely on these 
Sunday programmes. Thus boys and girls from 
fourteen years upwards had their brains racked 
by psychological problems such as those contained 
in Ghosts, Rosmersholm, and The Woman from the 
Sea. 

On these days we usually arranged other forms 
of relaxation for our son. Opportunities for 
school sport were practically nil. Weekly gym- 
nastic exercises, and a little tennis was all there 
was time for. It was considered that, with the 
system of military conscription, enough physical 
drill could be obtained after the brain had been 
moulded and formed according to plan. 

No German parents diverged from the curri- 



102 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

culum, or failed to do all in their power to uphold 
the system. Insubordination was only tolerated 
in foreigners like ourselves, who realised the 
immense advantages of the splendid education, 
without being blinded to the very serious draw- 
backs. 

When the schooldays there were ended and 
we returned to live in England, the best of the 
really excellent tuition remained, and environ- 
ment soon neutralised its disadvantages. 



CHAPTER VII 

MAKING FRIENDS : SOME OCCULT 
EXPERIENCES 

A FTER we had settled in our flat, the 
/\ Ambassador gave a party to introduce 
X A. us to some oi our colleagues, and we soon 
made friends among them, and also with several 
German families. As the season had not begun, 
we had more opportunity of learning to know 
them better, and to get an impression of their 
daily life. 

Lady Lascelles was arranging a bazaar at the 
British Embassy for a charitable purpose, and 
asked me to help her by telling fortunes there. 
A tent was erected for me at one end of the ball- 
room. I was disguised as a gypsy and drove a 
thriving trade, charging three marks per head. 
I handed over a substantial sum to the treasurer 
at the end of the day. 

I had some funny experiences during the process 
of hand-reading. One lady, a Frau von Putt- 
kammer, burst into tears after I had studied her 
palm and begged me to tell her who had been 
chattering to me about her family secrets. I had 
neither heard of her nor seen her before. 

Another visitor asked me in a condescending 
manner for my private address. I had satisfied 
her so completely that she would like to help me 

103 



104 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

by sending me clients. At the end of the day, 
Miss Lascelles, now Lady Spring Rice, asked me 
to read her hand, and I foretold her approaching 
return to London, and tragedy hanging over the 
house. A few days later everybody was horrified 
to hear of Lady Lascelles' sudden death, after 
which Miss Lascelles went to England. 

From a child I have always been conscious of 
hidden forces, and was very intuitive. The study 
of clairvoyance had always interested me, but I 
found it merely a channel of expression for inward 
convictions. My fortune-telling proclivities were 
soon bruited abroad, and my life was made a 
perfect burden to me. After every dinner party 
we went to, I was entreated to read hands, planted 
in some corner, and hemmed in by often most 
uninteresting people. A few years later I gave it 
up in deference to the expostulations of Baroness 
de Greindl, wife of the Belgian Minister, a kind 
and benevolent old lady, and one of the oldest 
diplomatic residents in Berlin. 

After a certain dinner party, I correctly foretold 
the sudden death of Count Bassewitz, a man who 
had taken me into dinner, and was apparently in 
the best of health. I also prophesied his wife's 
departure for America, after being compelled to 
leave their family seat, and also her subsequent 
return and re-marriage. When a fortnight later 
Count Bassewitz died, as a result of a railway 
accident, Baroness de Greindl said it was a sin to 
utter such prophecies, and that my husband 
ought not to allow it. Countess Bassewitz, who 
had no children, went to America, and I believe 
married again some years later. After this inci- 
dent, " I hung it upon the nail," as the Germans 
say. 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 105 

During the autumn, I saw a great deal of some 
of the Ministers' wives, who had returned to 
Berlin from their country seats. Frau Studt, 
wife of the Minister for Education, and Countess 
Posadowski, wife of the Minister of the Interior, 
were particularly kind to me, and initiated me into 
the mysteries of housekeeping, as they themselves, 
like most German women, excelled in organisation, 
and practical details connected with the running 
of a household. 

Like all Germans, they were very tenacious of 
their titles, especially that of " Excellenz/' which 
one used when conversing with them. Side by 
side with their tenacity of the formula of rank 
was a practical simplicity which I greatly admired. 
They did not consider it beneath their dignity to 
accompany their cook to the public market-places, 
and personally choose meat, poultry, game, fruit, 
etc., for household consumption. They thought, 
and rightly, that nobody ought to govern a house- 
hold unless understanding things better than the 
servants employed. 

In one respect, however, I did not agree with 
them. They clung to the fetish of the store room 
in town, and the quantites of jam-pots, jars of 
preserved fruit, dangling rows of sausages and 
ham, stacks of soap and cereals, added to the 
responsibilities of housekeeping, as they had to be 
continually overhauled and kept clean. This was 
absolutely unnecessary in any big city, where one 
of the chief advantages lies in the fact that it is 
easy to procure everj/thing for consumption 
fresh daily, either in large or small quantities. 
Indeed, in Berlin, less ambitious housekeepers 
were not ashamed to purchase half a quarter of a 
pound of cooked ham or sausage as a relish for the 



106 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

evening meal. The " halbes-Viertel " was quite 
an institution among the lower middle-class. 

Again, the overstocked linen cupboards added 
most dismally to the trouble of housekeeping, 
and was, I think, mainly responsible for the fact 
that laundries, as we use them, hardly existed. 
Every block of flats had a wash-house built in the 
courtyard, and a drying ground under the roof, 
and a monthly wash took place by appointment. 
One had to engage the premises in advance, 
and secure the services of capable washers and 
ironers. 

The importance given to articles of diet was 
brought home to me one day when a well-known 
personage gave me the country address from which 
she had for years procured her fresh butter. She 
impressed upon me that this very great favour 
had only been bestowed by her once before on 
anybody, and that was when she gave it to her 
sister as a birthday present. 

Frau von Moltke, wife of the Chief of the 
General Staff, whom I frequently saw, said to me : 
" Wir Deutschen haben uns herauf gehungert " 
(" We Germans have starved ourselves upwards "). 

The evening meal at their table was of the most 
commendable simplicity. Tea, bread and butter, 
and a dish or two of pickled herrings and cold meat, 
with beer for the men if they preferred it to tea. 
Their position compelled them to give two or three 
big official dinners, and one or two evening parties 
during the season. Then everything was on the 
most lavish scale. The official plate and china 
were used, and the floral decorations were magnifi- 
cent. The menu, carried out by hired cooks, was 
long and luxurious, with different wines at every 
course. 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 107 

At an official gathering I met Prince Lichnow- 
sky, who was loud in his praise of England and 
everything English. He said among other things 
that economy, when practised in England, had a 
certain grace and simplicity, and was not ridden 
openly as a sort of hobby by the middle-classes, as 
it was in Germany, but was accepted frankly as 
a matter of course. In the Fatherland the wife 
and mother so often degenerated into a mere 
drudge, talking of nothing but saving and clean- 
ing, whittling down to a minimum everything in 
life that was not absolutely connected with daily 
bread, and ordering the household, according to an 
inflexible plan, never to be altered. He admired 
also the freedom of companionship between parents 
and children in England, the confidence and good- 
fellowship which made them friends, and not, as 
was often the case in Germany, a feared authority. 
The English system of educating youth appealed 
to him also. He was not enthusiastic about the 
growing power of the military system, and hinted 
that Germany had very much to learn in the 
study of the psychology of nations. 

He did not think it sufficient to enunciate a fact 
regarded from one point of view, and that a 
dictatorial one. True diplomacy and the manage- 
ment of an Empire needed something more, the 
focussing of facts in different facets. This want of 
ability to see things through different eyes lay 
largely at the base of the want of success in German 
colonisation. 

I often thought of this when he came to London 
as Ambassador, and faced later on the most 
difficult circumstances it was possible for a diplo- 
matist to contend with. That he won the friend- 
ship of so many English people was perhaps largely 



io8 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

due to his wider comprehension of the soul of 
a nation. 

The von Moltkes had two daughters and two 
sons, the latter both in the Army. The elder 
daughter, who married a widower, Count Bethusy- 
Huc, was a most ethereal-looking girl, given to 
visions, and possessing to a marked degree the 
power of automatic drawing. 

One morning when I called at the Head Quarters 
Staff residence on the Alsen Platz to see Frau 
von Moltke, I found her in the window-niche of 
the drawing-room of her private apartment there, 
attentively studying a large piece of drawing- 
paper spread out on a table before her. 

" Come and see what Astrid has just finished," 
she called out as I entered, continuing her study 
of the sheet. 

I sat next her, and saw the most beautiful 
trailing design of foliage and periwinkle blossom, 
drawn with mathematical precision down each 
side of the drawing-paper and exactly matching 
each other. A blank space between the design 
was left in the centre. Astrid had drawn the design 
on the left hand side first, with closed eyes, and 
after covering this with paper, drew the opposite 
side, which matched it in every detail, as if the 
design had been stencilled on the blank side, with 
the flowers and leaves facing each other, and not 
drawn side by side as if in duplicate. 

Frau von Moltke herself was not possessed of 
psychic gifts, but had deep understanding and 
appreciation of them in other people, and gave 
herself up almost entirely to the study of occult 
matters. She was almost a vegetarian and often 
discussed matters of diet. Meat, she averred, 
filled the body with poisons (" Kindles all putrid 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 109 

humours in the frame," as Shelley puts it). Soup 
was as bad as alcohol — coffee was the only stimu- 
lant that she allowed herself, and she was always 
most abstemious in the matter of eating and drink- 
ing. One lock of snow-white hair among her dark 
tresses was always arranged above her forehead, 
and rather looked like the peak of a widow's cap. 
Her tall, burly husband, Helmuth von Moltke, 
tolerated his wife's hobbies without in any way 
sharing her convictions. He did not object to 
attending seances when held in his wife's drawing- 
room, and on more than one occasion he said he 
could find no explanation for pyschic phenomena, 
which nevertheless he could not deny. 

Spiritualistic seances were frequently held in the 
Moltke's private apartments in the Official- General 
Staff buildings in Berlin and in Potsdam. I heard 
that the Kaiser was present at one of the latter, 
and that he sat in a small circle in the dimly- 
lit room when first of all a hymn was chanted. 
His stern, frowning face looked most protestingly 
incredulous when a girl of fifteen, an offshoot of 
the Manteuffel family, suddenly fell into a trance, 
and began to speak. 

She did not lean back or fall asleep, but sat bolt 
upright, her large eyes opening to their widest 
extent. Her voice changed in timbre and was like 
that of a man. In strident tones she spoke of 
certain of her ancestors who were then present in 
spirit, and who foretold great misfortune and 
violent death hanging over the reigning house. 
This upset the Kaiser very much ; yet he remained 
for the whole time the girl was in trance, about 
forty minutes. 

Frau von Moltke took down notes of her speeches, 
in which she described beautiful gardens, marble 



no FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

steps, and mystical guides in the astral world. No 
one else was permitted to take notes. This girl 
and her younger sister were so clairvoyant, and 
held such continual daily converse with beings 
unseen by the rest of the community, that they 
were expelled from more than one school, as they 
puzzled teachers and pupils alike by their seem- 
ingly one-sided conversations. The Kaiser was 
so upset at the prediction, and found the whole 
seance so eerie, that he forebade any public 
mention of psychic matters, and issued a command 
in the daily papers that " Gesundbeten " (faith 
healing), which was just then being advocated, 
would henceforth be punishable by law. 

Fortune-telling for money was also prohibited, 
and I considered it rather fortunate that I was 
able to see a very extraordinary woman, called 
the " Cholera Frau," before she was locked up. 

I went one rainy morning in mackintosh and 
old hat to her flat in the Windel Strasse. I was 
admitted, and received by a short, thin, weary-look- 
ing little woman, whose starry dark eyes searched 
my face in rapid glance, and seemed the only 
vital thing about her. " Of course you want your 
hand read — or your future told," she said, " but 
now it is not permitted." She motioned me to a 
seat beside her on the sofa and said : " Take off 
your gloves." I did so, and without touching me 
she looked sideways at my hand and said : " You 
are here in Berlin, but will soon leave it. You have 
a son who indulges in a dangerous pastime. Stop 
this before it is too late. You have a husband, but 
he will be taken from you ere long, and you will 
drift about from land to land seeking rest and a 
little happiness. But you must work out your 
karma, and suffer — suffer — suffer " 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES in 

" Look at me," she continued, throwing out her 
hands. " I had a husband and eight dear children. 
We lived in Hamburg. I lost all of them in two 
days from cholera. People think me mad because 
from that time on, the Book of Nature was revealed 
to me. I hear voices in the trees and flowers — and 
am never lonely." As I rose to leave her she said : 
" Put five marks on the mantelpiece, but do not 
give them to me." 

Next day two detectives in plain clothes called 
at the flat and induced the poor "Cholera Woman " 
to tell their fortunes for money, and the interview 
ended by her being forced to accompany them, 
then and there, to a place of detention. 

Another strange experience was when I was 
taken to the house of a Frau Schelsinger in the 
Charlotten Strasse. This lady had evidently 
developed the most remarkable artistic powers 
after the death of her only child, a girl in her 
teens. She described it as follows : 

" I was walking down the Leipziger Strasse a 
month or so ago, just aimlessly walking, to try and 
forget my grief, when something induced me to 
stop before a window in which Keltz and Meiner's 
oil-paints were shewn, with brushes and other 
artistic paraphernalia. A voice beside me said 
distinctly in my ear : ' Tubes, tubes.' 

" I entered the shop and asked for oil-paints, 
picking up automatically a number of tubes of 
colour as if my hand were guided. These were 
tied up in a parcel with brushes and canvas, and 
on my return home I shut myself in my sitting- 
room, and painted for hours. I did these," she 
added, leading me to a window near which 
were oil paintings of beautiful girls among tall 
lilies on a deep blue background ; others — faces 



H2 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

of men and women transfigured with light, and 
worked in colours similar to those in Bocklin's 
pictures. 

" I do them automatically," she said. " I never 
know when I sit down what the picture will be. 
I often work by lamplight." Later on an exhibition 
was held of her work, and many of the great 
artists declared that the drawing was anatomically 
quite correct, and the colouring simply mar- 
vellous. 

" I see Lili continually," Frau Schlesinger told 
me, " and now I am not at all unhappy, as I feel 
I have not lost her." 

" How did you first get in contact with her ? " 
I asked. 

" It was like this," she replied. " One evening 
when I returned home, after walking for miles, 
trying to tire myself physically, I found Lili's 
dog — a big retriever — in the passage, his hair on 
end, gazing into the dining-room, the door of which 
was open. Suddenly he bounded forward with 
yells of delight and behaved as if he were fawning 
upon some — to me invisible — person. 

That night just as I was falling asleep Lili's 
voice roused me, and I saw her distinctly standing 
near me. 

" I am so happy, mother," she said. " On my 
star I have so many friends and companions. We 
have parties there too, and to-morrow there is a 
great Festival. Never grieve, for now I am allowed 
to visit you. You will never feel lonely." 

As we sat down to tea, I heard a curious vibrat- 
ing noise near the hostess, and in response to a 
voice unheard by the rest of us, the mother 
replied ecstatically : 

" Yes, Lili darling, it is you — yes — I will tell 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 113 

them all that you are here, and that you send them 
greetings." 

I did not see the vision myself, but I heard the 
curious vibrating taps, and saw the dog in the 
greatest state of excitement, rushing about as if 
pursuing somebody. 

Frau Schlesinger assured me over and over again 
that Lili came for a chat with her every night before 
she went to sleep, and that the girl's life was not 
bereft of pleasures and duties begun here below, 
but was a continuation of them. 

Frau von Moltke took me one afternoon to visit 
an extraordinary medium named Frau Koralewski, 
wife of a minor clerk in one of the German offices. 
She with her husband occupied a small apartment 
in one of the little garden dwellings of the Lessing- 
strasse. I was in mourning at the time for a very 
dear sister, and she told me that the woman 
would probably be able to communicate with the 
dead. 

We had no appointment with her and, when we 
arrived at her flat, we were told by the little maid- 
servant who opened the door that Frau Koralewski 
was not well, and was confined to her bedroom. 
The maid added that she was sure that she would 
wish to be told that the " Excellenz " was there, 
and would if possible see her. After a few moments 
we were asked to enter the little " Wohnzimmer,'' 
where we waited about ten minutes before she 
appeared. She was a short, dark woman with very 
curious eyes. She greeted us quietly, and seated 
herself at a large round table. My hand was 
resting on the table, and I was startled to find that 
after a few moments' conversation on general 
topics, curious electric taps were heard, and I 
felt their vibration distinctly through the table. 



ii4 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

The woman looked up and said : " Which of you 
is the medium ? " 

Frau von Moltke had felt nothing, and merely 
pointed to me. The woman then said : " We shall 
probably get very good answers to any questions 
we may put." The tapping continued in various 
parts of the room, and at this stage the husband 
entered. 

He was surprised to find his wife out of bed, and 
remonstrated with her for having got up. She 
declared that her indisposition had suddenly left 
her, and that she would be very glad to hold a 
seance for us, if he would collaborate with her, as 
her best results were procured in conjunction 
with him. 

We proceeded to a little ante-room, against the 
wall of which was a large square sofa, and in front 
of it a long table. We were invited to be seated 
with this table in front of us. At the head of it was 
a smaller table, upon which stood a board covered 
with large letters of the alphabet. The husband 
sat facing the letters, the wife opposite him. They 
joined hands across the tablet, the woman placing 
two fingers of her right hand in a small wooden 
plate which, when she fell in trance, moved 
automatically from letter to letter to form words. 
These words, as they were spelt out were taken 
down by the little maidservant before alluded to, 
who sat with pencil and paper at the other end 
of the long table. 

After a short prayer, " Gott zum gruss," and an 
interval of a few minutes, the eyes of the medium 
closed and her fingers began to push the little 
disc to and fro, stopping at different letters. 

Frau von Moltke and I listened attentively, and 
suddenly the little maid exclaimed in puzzled 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 115 

tones : " But I can make no words from these 
letters ! " They struck me as being in English, a 
language of which none of the three knew a single 
word. I therefore signed to the maid to pass me 
the pencil and paper, and took down at the dicta- 
tion of the medium's husband four closely-written 
pages of English blank-verse, in the most elevated 
style. It began with : " Let dreams depart and 
Visions of the night/' and dealt with the most 
intimate questions of my life. It contained the 
best of advice on the most intricate subjects. At 
a certain stage of the proceedings, the medium 
asked in German, " Wer bist du ? " And the 
answer, given immediately in German, was : 
" Ich bin Sophie die Weise " ("I am Sophie, the 
wise one "). Sophie was my dead sister's name. I 
was then asked in German to come myself to the 
■planchette. As I rose to comply, I was in a state of 
the greatest agitation, and the tappings were 
repeated loudly in different parts of the room. 
When I sat opposite the medium, and placed my 
hands on hers, the following words were dictated 
in German : " You are too agitated now, come 
again to-morrow." 

I returned with the dictation to Frau von 
Moltke's house, where we witnessed the most 
curious phenomena. As we passed a glass cabinet 
containing relics of the old Field-Marshal, these 
began to move about in the strangest manner, 
and the tappings continued here, as they did also 
when at last I arrived home. 

I was so upset by all this, that I resolved not to 
return to the medium's house again. 

A curious sequel to the story was the fact that a 
sister of mine, who arrived in Berlin next day from 
Brussels, went there instead of me, and in a very 



n6 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

sceptical frame of mind. After a long seance there, 
she returned in a state of stupefaction with another 
long dictation in English, which began : " Where 
is your sister? Why did she not come again? " 
and was the continuation of the messages which 
had been interrupted on the previous day. Among 
other things the dictation contained the following 
sentences : 

" You do not need us — you have just come here 
on the steel horse from afar. Tell your sister she 
has a friend here, who will help her in all the great 
crises of life, and these will be many. She is to 
trust us." 

When the famous flower medium, Anna Rothe, 
was publicly tried for the Black Art in Berlin, and 
afterwards condemned, Frau von Molke and I 
were present at the trial, which interested us 
greatly. We had witnessed the most remarkable 
seances at the medium's house, when, in mid- 
winter quantities of cut-flowers of the choicest 
kind fell, apparently from nowhere, into our laps. 
Even if, as some people suggested, these were 
purchased previous to the sitting, the cost of 
them would have outweighed, by far, the small 
amount of money obtained by the entrance fee 
of five marks for each guest. Roots with the 
earth on them of flowering forget-me-nots, carna- 
tions, lilies of the valley, etc., fell into the lap of 
one of the ladies present, who had recently lost a 
child. They were accompanied by the following 
words, which issued in a child's voice from the 
lips of the medium who was entranced : " Here, 
dear mother, are flowers as they bloom with us." 
The mother recognised her child's voice and burst 
into tears. 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 117 

About twenty people were present at the 
seance of which I speak. 

We were shown into a smallish drawing-room, 
at one end of which was a table capable of seating 
six people. 

Anna's place was at the end of the table 
which was placed back to the wall facing the 
guests, who were accommodated with chairs at 
the opposite end of the apartment. She did not 
come into the room until they were all present. 
The lights were full on, and were not extinguished 
or even lowered the whole evening. There was 
no sort of paraphernalia of any preparation in the 
room. 

The medium was short and thin. Her large 
dark eyes shone brilliantly in her small sallow face. 
She asked a certain Baroness Gninhoff, who had 
formerly been a great singer, to sit to her right. 
Lady White, widow of a former British Ambassa- 
dor to Constantinople sat to her left. The end of 
the table opposite the medium was free. 

Without preface or incantations Anna Rothe 
suddenly sank back in her chair and breathed 
heavily for a few seconds, closing her eyes. She 
then opened them wide, and said : " Ah, it is you, 
Aysha, what do you bring us to-night ? " 

" I bring you the flowers of spring and summer 
for the happiness of our friends here present in 
winter," said Aysha. A shower of roses, carnations, 
bluebells, and forget-me-nots then fell on the 
table. 

" Here, as they grow," said Anna Rothe, sud- 
denly turning to Baroness Grunhoff and placing her 
hands upon her breast. " See them sent from the 
spot where a moment ago they bloomed by the 
river's bed." 



n8 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

From her hands fell two roots of lovely forget- 
me-nots. 

The medium's voice changed, as messages and 
flowers were sent from the unseen world, and cer- 
tainly there was no cabinet where they could have 
been hidden — they simply were there. 

We all took some of the flowers home, and 
I kept them fresh in water for two or three days. 
Mine after having been pressed between the leaves 
of a book for some time seemed as fresh as 
ever ; others, so I heard, turned at once to black 
dust. 

Before saying good-bye to Anne Rothe that 
evening she cured my neuralgia, from which I had 
been suffering for da3/s, by placing her hand on my 
forehead and " willing " it away. 

I do not pretend to explain any of these phenom- 
ena, but merely state things which undoubtedly 
took place and of which, in company with many 
others, I was an eye-witness. 

Poor Anna Rothe made the mistake of so many 
genuine mediums who have forced their powers, 
and even simulated them, when it was a question 
of money, to their own undoing. 

Our first Christmas in Berlin was in a typically 
white winter, and it was a delight to wander 
through the crisp, snow-covered streets, and up 
and down the broad pavements lined with 
Christmas-trees, or to purchase toys, gingerbread, 
and other Christmas cakes at the gay booths 
which had cropped up at every available corner. 
The trees in the Tiergarten glittered with hoar 
frost in winter sunshine, and made the place a 
veritable fairyland. 

Ghalib Bey had no prejudices about the celebra- 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 119 

tion of Christmas, which he looked upon as a 
national festival in which one could participate 
irrespective of religious scruples. 

During our stay in Berlin we were much more 
in contact with Turks than we had been in London, 
which was almost a cosmopolitan post. I found 
them always most courteous and charming, not 
in the least bigoted, and ready to identify them- 
selves with the life, ideals, manners and customs 
of the West, and invest all of them with certain 
barbaric glitter of their own. 

Ghalib Bey's family had remained in Constanti- 
nople, and he made the Embassy a centre of family 
life for all its members, taking the keenest interest 
in our doings, and anxious that everybody should 
be happy and comfortable. The official dinner 
parties which he gave were for men alone. In 
order, I suppose, to make me feel that I was not 
left out of his calculations, he invariably sent round 
to our flat quantities of sweets, cakes, ices and 
fruit directly after the meal. This was but one 
little instance of his kindness of heart. He was 
very fond of my little son, and was continually 
sending him toys, or miniature German uniforms 
and swords, to use when playing soldiers. In- 
deed, the child was in a fair way of being 
spoiled, as all the secretaries were more than kind 
to him. 

Ali Fuad Bey, our first secretary, was a genial, 
delightful creature, full of quaint Turkish philo- 
sophy, and keenly interested in Berlin life, and in 
the theatres and concerts, of which, of course, one 
had here Vemharras du choix. He was not particu- 
larly keen on work, but there was not an over- 
whelming amount of it for anybody connected 
with the Embassy. He learned German almost 



120 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

perfectly, and assured me that he had picked it up 
by assiduously frequenting the theatres. 

The fez was not worn here in public, which was 
rather a relief, and was, I believe, the reason why 
the Turkish secretaries in Berlin learned to dance, 
which they did extremely well. They must have 
overcome or grown beyond the usual Oriental 
contempt for people who did their dancing them- 
selves and not by proxy. 

The season began with the New^ Year congratu- 
lations to the Emperor. The Ambassador drove 
in state down the Linden to the Schloss, and 
arrived there about midday for the audience 
with the Kaiser. He then presented my husband 
to both the Emperor and the Empress. My own 
personal presentation to the Empress was to take 
place at the first Court ball, when Countess 
Brockdorff introduced newcomers at different 
Embassies, during the interval of dances, in the 
gallery next the ballroom. 

The Austrian Ambassadress, Madame de 
Szogeny introduced me to Countess Brockdorff, 
who received at the Palace once a week during 
the season, when visits to her were considered 
equivalent to visits to Her Majesty. 

Countess Brockdorff was the Empress's chief 
lady-in-waiting, and occupied the status of a 
sort of female Lord Chamberlain. She was 
seconded by Fraulein von Gersdorff, a blonde 
impassive lady, who knew almost more about 
the private affairs of people in the entourage 
of the Court than they did themselves. One or 
other of these ladies collected information about 
every newcomer, and prompted the Empress with 
little details before introducing them. 

At Countess Brockdorff's Wednesdays one was 



OCCULT EXPERIENCES 121 

presented to the members of the nobility on whom 
one was expected to call. She was always most 
kind, and initiated newcomers into all the formal- 
ities attendant on Court functions, and the rigid 
etiquette of Berlin social life. 



I 



CHAPTER VIII 

GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 

'HE Defilir Cour, corresponding to the 
English Drawing-room, was held early 
in the evening. The corps diplomatique 
assembled in a large room adjoining the Presence 
Chamber about seven-thirty. Evening dress, with 
a four-yard train, was de rigueur, but we wore 
neither feathers nor veils. 

When the moment for the beginning of the 
function drew near, the ladies formed up in a long 
line one behind the other in order of precedence. 
One held up, by the corners, the train of the 
lady in front of her, while one's own train was 
held up in the same manner by the lad}^ behind. 
They were dropped and spread out on the floor as 
one entered the Throne Room, when names of 
those passing were called out to the Emperor and 
Empress, who with their suite stood upon a large 
platform and acknowledged the three curtseys 
made by each one by a slight bow. 

Cold refreshments, soup and wine, were served 
at a long buffet in the room beyond the Presence 
Chamber, where people remained chatting for a 
short time. Most people left before ten o'clock, 
and many ladies had their trains unhooked 
before leaving, and went on to a ball. 

The evening of the Defilir Cour was a favourite 
one for entertainments given by the rich financiers. 

132 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 123 

Berlin was a most class-ridden city. Admittance 
to Court functions was a privilege much more 
restricted then than it was in London, and was 
jealously guarded by the official and aristocratic 
world. The haute finance and the haute bourgeoisie 
were kept at arm's length by them. The corps 
diplomatique frequented both sets. 

During the first year of our stay in Berlin, 
diplomats were the guests of honour at the splendid 
entertainments given there by the big Jewish 
financiers. Much has been written, and more has 
been said about the want of social status of Jews 
in Germany, where for a long time they were 
absolutely excluded from appointments at Court, 
the Army, and the Navy. Of recent years the 
Emperor, for financial reasons, opened the doors 
of his palace to these magnates, but their wives 
and daughters were treated very badly at first, 
when they frequented the Court balls, and were 
looked upon as intruders by the orthodox Court 
set. 

My acquaintanceship with many eminent Jews 
led me to regard them as a wonderful people. 
They stand for facts. They have no flag, no 
Fatherland, and are not hampered by the ballast 
of these ideals. They intermarry, and are clannish. 
They become the friends of kings. There is no 
Jewish army, yet everywhere they conquer a 
place for themselves. They are models of conjugal 
felicity, their esprit de famille is only equalled by 
their esprit de corps, and where does one find 
people more intelligent, more kind-hearted ? 

Their little weaknesses were very obvious, and 
very pardonable. Jews who had been baptised 
lost no opportunity of impressing the fact upon 
their friends and acquaintances, and at their 



124 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

dinner parties pork in one form or another was 
sure to represent an item of the menu. 

Every Wednesday evening during the short 
winter season a Court ball was held at the Palace. 
The invited guests assembled in the long historic 
picture-gallery, and only entered the famous 
white marble ballroom just before the arrival of 
the Royal party. 

Rows of benches were placed on both sides of 
the ballroom, the Royal dais being in the centre 
of the benches facing the door. Seats were 
reserved for the corps diplomatique to the right 
of the dais ; those to the left were for the wives of 
members of the highest nobility. The musicians' 
gallery faced another gallery at the opposite end 
of the room, and during the evening the latter 
was crowded with guests watching the brilliant 
scene below. 

Before the commencement of the ball, the 
Emperor always came to the front row of the 
diplomatic bench, where he talked to the Ambassa- 
dresses and Ministers' wives one after another. 
I often noticed the nervous jerk of his head and 
backward glance over his left shoulder, as he stood 
there enunciating abrupt sentences in his own 
imperious manner. His nerves seemed to be 
always at highest tension. 

After conversing with the ladies, the Emperor 
usually passed on to the Ambassadors and Minis- 
ters, who stood, according to precedence, in a 
semicircle just beyond our seats. At one of the 
balls I saw a curious incident in connection with 
Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, then on a visit to 
Berlin. As a vassal-prince he was placed at the 
very end of the line of diplomats, where he stood, 
attended by my husband, who was attached to his 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 125 

presence for the duration of his stay. While 
talking to the ladies the Emperor's restless glance 
caught sight of Prince Ferdinand's face, the ex- 
pression of which was thunderous, for he deeply 
resented his position, which nevertheless was 
quite en regie. He shifted from one foot to another, 
turning every now and then to speak to my 
husband who, in full uniform and fez, stood just 
behind him. 

The Kaiser probably realised even then that 
the ambitious Prince would one day play an 
important role on the world's stage, and might 
prove a useful ally, so with a decisive movement 
he bowed to the last lady without speaking, and 
passing in front of the waiting Ambassadors, 
stepped quickly across the room, and stood for a 
quarter of an hour in conversation with Prince 
Ferdinand. 

It was a demonstration. I watched the clouds 
lift from the heavy Bourbon features, and smiles 
take their place. When at last the Emperor left 
him to go straight to the Royal dais, the Prince 
Ferdinand, after a few moments' talk with my 
husband, left the Castle with him. 

The personality of Ferdinand of Bulgaria 
conveyed the impression of his boundless ambition, 
for the realisation of which events of later years 
afforded such ample scope. He had resolved to 
found a dynasty of his own in the Balkans that 
should give the vital spark to that portrait of 
himself as Emperor of the East, which now hangs 
in the Royal gallery of the palace at Sofia. Nowa- 
days, one can hardly realise that little more than 
half a century ago Russia was instrumental in 
the creation of Bulgaria's national existence. 
After five centuries of servitude, the nation sprang 



126 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

from the blood of the martyred peasants of 1841, 
and it was the Czar Alexander II who, in forcing 
peace upon the Sultan of Turkey in 1878, laid the 
foundation of Bulgaria's independence, which, 
however, like that of Egypt, was for a time under 
Ottoman suzerainty. 

The Court ball incident of 1896 was greatly 
appreciated by Prince Ferdinand, who, when he 
left Berlin, bestowed two decorations upon my 
husband. They vied in size and splendour with 
any of those awarded by the Great Powers of 
Europe. 

At the Court balls, dancing commenced in a 
large circle formed in front of the throne. An 
officer of high rank, famous for his dancing, 
acted as Vortanzer and waltzed once with his 
partner round the inside of the circle before danc- 
ing became general. Square dances were formed 
in front of the Royalties, and during the evening 
one guest or another was escorted by the Master 
of the Ceremonies to the foot of the throne, after 
the All-Highest had intimated his wish for conver- 
sation with the indicated guest. 

My presentation to the Empress took place at 
the first Court ball I attended after my arrival 
there. All the new diplomatic ladies were told 
to hold themselves in readiness in the gallery 
beyond the ballroom, where the Empress would 
come during one of the intervals. She appeared, 
attended as usual by Countess Brockdorff, who 
prompted her with little details concerning each 
lady who was introduced. When my turn came 
I heard her whisper to the Empress : " London, 

1894." 

I made my deepest curtsey, the Empress smiled, 
and said to me in German : 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 127 

" I remember my visit to London in 1894. I 
hope you're happy in Berlin. How is his Imperial 
Majesty the Sultan ? " 

I replied in German : " His Imperial Majesty 
is in the best of health, Your Majesty. I know 
I shall be very happy in this beautiful city." 

Another smile, while she fingered her bracelets, 
which reminded me of her London parasol, and 
the " audience " was over. 

I again curtsied to the ground and withdrew 
backwards, making room for the next presenta- 
tion. 

The Empress's figure was truly marvellous. 
Her broad white shoulders — the sleeves well off 
them — tapered down to a waist of not more than 
twenty inches. If this were really the result of 
thyroid glands of sheep, I wondered why more 
people did not use it for incipient obesity. 

A procession was formed for supper. The 
Royalties passed down in the historic picture- 
gallery to a room reserved for them. The other 
guests followed and went in batches to various 
other rooms, where supper was served hot, the 
guests being seated at long oval tables. Hot soup 
was followed by a course of fish, entrees, poultry, 
sweets, ice, and fruit ; champagne and other wines 
were served with every course. 

The last ball of the season — the Carnival ball, 
preceding Lent — ended at midnight, when hot 
punch and dough-nuts were served to the guests 
previous to departure. Princess Victoria Luise, 
then in the schoolroom, often watched the balls 
from the gallery above, and passed through the 
crowd of guests at the end of the Carnival 
ball. 

There were no Court concerts ; instead of these 



128 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

there was the Gala Opera, which was always 
delightful. Invitations were sent out and full 
uniform was worn. The Opera House was fes- 
tooned with roses, and portions of different 
operas were given. The guests were all seated 
according to plan. Men of the diplomatic body 
filled the stalls ; the ladies were placed in the 
grand circle to the right of the Royal box. 
During the interval Cercle was held in the 
foyer. 

When the King of Italy was on a visit to Berlin 
I had quite a long conversation with him there. 
The ladies of the various Embassies stood in line 
according to precedence. In the absence of an 
Ambassadress (there were none at this particular 
meeting) the wives of the Councillors took their 
place. 

The King seemed to speak foreign languages 
absolutely perfectly. He spoke in English without 
the faintest trace of accent. He addressed me in 
French, making remarks about the beauty of the 
music we had just heard, talking about Constant- 
inople, and ending with the expression of hope 
that the Sultan was quite well. 1 

None of the invitations to Court functions were 
ever sent by post. The commands of the All- 
Highest, printed in gold on large cards with an 
accompanying special carriage card, were sent by 
special messengers to one's flat or home. They 
were never in envelopes, and were handed in with 
befitting gravity. Many people who entertained 
sent invitations by hand as a mark of politeness. 

1 Although he was so very short, his dignity and amiability 
made one quite forget this. He chatted in the Royal box with 
the greatest animation, and evidently much appreciated the 
festival arranged in his honour. 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 129 

Among the most luxurious receptions in Berlin 
were those given by Herr and Frau Schwabach. 
For very many years the former had occupied 
the honorary post of British Consul-General 
there. 

I was surprised to find that most of the Consul- 
Generals of the Great Powers of Eurppe were 
wealthy German Jews, who in some cases even 
paid for the honour of occupying the post, which 
gave them social rank and distinction, of which 
they were very tenacious. Although the title 
" Herr General-Consul " meant a great deal in 
Berlin, it did not carry with it the privilege of 
admittance to Court. 

Frau Leonie Schwabach was of Dutch extrac- 
tion, and possessed unlimited social ambition, 
coupled with extreme tact and graciousness. Her 
parties vied in elegance and luxury with those 
of the British Embassy. The English note was 
always accentuated. I have been at evening 
receptions at her beautiful house in the Wilhelms- 
platz, where Ben Davies and other famous English 
artistes have been engaged for the one-night 
performance, their travelling expenses from 
London being added to an enormous fee. 

The post of British Consul-General seemed a 
sort of hereditary privilege of the Schwabachs, 
for when the charitable and charming old man 
was one day found dead in his arm-chair, the post 
passed to his son, who later on, in virtue of 
the magic prefix " von," was ennobled, and 
." hoffahig." 

His wife, nee Schroder, was a tall, beautiful 
blonde from Hamburg, who did the honours at 
her extremely smart parties in a manner even 
exceeding the charm of her famous mother-in-law. 



130 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Her dinner parties were never too long, and it 
was she who first set the fashion in Berlin of 
curtailing the endless courses with heavy wines 
then prevalent in every official house. Her balls 
and cotillons were perfect in every detail, and she 
herself became persona grata with all the most 
exclusive noble ladies in Berlin. 

It was a terrible grief to all the Schwabach 
family when in recent years England at last sent 
an English consul de carriere to look after its 
interests in the German capital. Previous to that 
the post seemed to have been regarded from a 
purely social point of view, and I often wondered 
how the British commercial interests fared in 
that Teuton element. At one time, it is true, 
there was a Commercial attache at the British 
Embassy, but this was not always the case. 

In most of the large German towns, and almost 
up to the period of the War, the British Consul 
was nearly always a wealthy native Jewish 
financier. 

When Herr Fritz von Friedlander-Fuld grew 
to be one of the wealthiest men in Germany, and 
was known as the " coal-king," he approached 
the Turkish Embassy with a proposition to be 
named Consul-General of that Power. This post, 
however, passed into the hands of Herr Koch, a 
Director of the Deutsche Bank, and Herr von 
Friedlander became Dutch Consul, thus represent- 
ing the commercial interests of his wife's native 
country. 

He built a magnificent house next door to the 
French Embassy on the Pariser Platz, at the top 
of the Linden, near the Brandenburger Tor, which 
overtopped the official residence by more than one 
storey. It was decorated in princely fashion, the 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 131 

circular library being copied from the one in 
Sans Souci. 

As years passed by, and his daughter was grow- 
ing up, this house became the centre of some of 
the finest entertainments of the pleasure-loving 
city. 

He was one of the few hunting-hosts, and in 
those days many of his friends in Berlin were 
invited to the boar-hunts at Lancke. My husband 
and I spent many a pleasant week-end at the 
beautiful country estate. 

Just before the War, Herr von Friedlander-Fuld 
was admitted to the personal intimacy of the 
Kaiser, who consulted him on important financial 
matters. 

His only child married one of Lord Redesdale's 
sons, the Hon. John Mitford, but the marriage 
was dissolved a short time after. 

Princess Biilow's gatherings at the Prime Minis- 
ter's official residence at the Wilhelmstrasse were 
always interesting. 

She was Italian by birth, nee Donna Laura 
Minghetti, and was on the best of terms with 
Count Lanza, Italian Ambassador, and all the 
personnel of his Embassy. This was also in the 
Wilhelmstrasse, almost opposite the British Em- 
bassy, in the top flat of the house of a wealthy 
banker, Herr von Krause. 

Princess Biilow was one of the few great 
hostesses in Berlin who invited artists and 
journalists to her official parties. Her amiability 
in this respect became very useful to her with 
regard to the gentlemen of the pen. 

In those days meals in Berlin were at the oddest 
hours. Calls were often made in the mornings, and 
the midday meal, often the principal one of the 



132 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

day, was a sort of movable feast, according to 
school and office hours, and was at any time 
from two to three o'clock. At Home days were 
more or less the prerogative of members of the 
official world, and it was considered rather bold 
and pushing for private individuals to have a 
" jour." 

During the season a list of ladies' names, with 
the day and hour of their weekly At Homes, was 
published in the daily papers, and all who claimed 
acquaintance with them attended without any 
special invitation. 

The " days " of the German Ministers' wives 
were functions not to be treated lightly, or in any 
way neglected. 

The hour of dinner parties at first varied very 
much, and we received invitations for these 
ranging from the hours of five to eight. It was 
only during the latter end of our sojourn in Berlin 
that eight o'clock became more or less the official 
hour for dinner parties. 

Countess Brockdorff was a mine of information 
on every detail of etiquette, and was most kind 
in helping newcomers to learn the ropes. 1 It was 
the duty of every new arrival, man or woman, to 
get presented to all the ladies present at any 
gathering whom they did not know. In default 
of someone to perform the introduction, they had 
to do it themselves. 

Their Majesties were often present at dinner 
parties and receptions at the different Embassies. 
In public, the Kaiser's manner towards the 
Empress was always one of flattering admiration. 

1 At Court she always looked very picturesque with her white 
hair and black lace lappets, and nothing escaped her vigilant 
gaze. 



GERMAN COURT FUNCTIONS 133 

One evening, at the Russian Embassy, he gazed at 
her approvingly, and said aloud to his neighbour: 
" Who would ever believe that that woman has 
had eight children ? " 

On more than one occasion the Emperor paid 
a surprise visit to the Turkish Ambassador, 
and questioned most minutely the progress of 
several sons of prominent Ottoman officials who 
were training as cadets in the German military 
schools. 

Every facility and advantage were offered to 
these young men, who were placed as paying- 
guests in rnilitarjf families, the choice of which was 
submitted to the Emperor himself. 

Prominent among these " military hosts " was 
a certain General von Elpons, whose practical 
wife and two clever daughters did their best to 
build up happy memories for the boys and young 
men entrusted to their father's care. A son of the 
famous Reouf Pacha, Abdy Bey, lived with them 
for a long time while training for his military 
service. Later on, he became military attache 
in Vienna. 

All the young Turks who passed through Ger- 
man military training grew to love the country, 
and became so imbued with German standards 
and ideals that, on returning to their native land, 
they were, to all intents and purposes, more 
German than Turk. Some of them, indeed, did 
not return at all, but naturalised in the Fatherland, 
and entered the German Army. 

Many foreigners deplored the fact that club 
life was practically non-existent in Berlin. It is 
true that there were one or two sporting clubs, 
but to men like my husband, who had been a 
member of the Cavalry Club, the Athenaeum, the 



134 FR° M AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

St. James's, and others in London, a club chiefly 
used for betting and sport offered little attraction. 
Some of the diplomats suggested the idea of 
founding a club for strangers of distinction in 
the German capital, but up to the time of our 
departure from Berlin this plan did not materialise. 



CHAPTER IX 

INCREASING LUXURY IN BERLIN 

THE activity of social life began just after 
the New Year. Ceremonial visits were 
paid to the members of the Royal House 
who had establishments of their own. The 
Emperor's birthday, January 27th, was considered 
to mark the high tide of festivities. A dinner party, 
which included the Ambassadors, was given at 
the Palace, followed usually by an elaborate 
performance at the Opera. 

The Austro-Hungarian Embassy, presided over 
by Monsieur and Madame de Szogeny, had long 
been one of the chief centres of the social world, 
and their three beautiful daughters were amiable 
and charming. Countess Nemisch and Madame 
de Velics gave delightful entertainments of their 
own, and assisted the Ambassadress to do the 
honours at the Embassy on the weekly reception 
days. 

At the British Embassy in the Wilhelmstrasse, 
Lady Edward Cavendish was for a long time head 
of the household there after the death of Lady 
Lascelles. The Wednesday afternoon receptions 
were a great feature of the winter entertainments, 
and members of the British colony looked forward 
to meeting their compatriots then. The Ambassa- 
dor's only daughter was married in Berlin to Mr. 
Cecil Spring-Rice, who later on became Ambassador 

135 



136 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

to the United States. The wedding breakfast 
was held at the Embassy, and numerous invited 
guests filled several of the rooms. The wedding 
was celebrated in St. George's Church, the English 
place of worship in Berlin, and most of the English 
colony there attended the ceremony. Prominent 
among the well-known correspondents of English 
newspapers then present was Mr. John Bashford, 
who had lived for many years in Berlin, and whose 
first wife was a German belonging to one of the 
best families there. After her death he married 
a second time a charming Irish girl who was resid- 
ing in Berlin and who was a great favourite in the 
English colony. When Mr. Bashford died suddenly 
on a visit to Wales, he was in the midst of trans- 
lating a book of travel written by Count Hans von 
Konigsmark, one of the best known men in Berlin 
Society. 

His widow, who resolved to continue living in 
Berlin, wrote to Count Konigsmark asking per- 
mission to continue the translation. 

The personal interview regarding the book 
resulted later on in the happiest of marriages 
between the two. Mrs. Bashford often told me 
that she was a great believer in destiny, and that 
everyone should follow their star in faith, as one 
never knew round which corner happiness was 
awaiting one. 

At the wedding breakfast at the Embassy the 
entire corps diplomatique was present, many 
representatives of the higher German nobility, 
and haute -finance. 

I sat next to Herr von Friedlander-Fuld, who 
said that he could not bear to think of the time 
when his own daughter would marry and fly away 
from the parental roof. The bride and bride- 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 137 

groom's health was proposed and drunk by all 
the guests, and altogether it was the gayest of 
wedding parties. 

The French and Italian Ambassadors were both 
unmarried. The wives of their secretaries assisted 
them sometimes in receiving guests, and in arrang- 
ing the many delightful balls and dinner parties. 
The French Embassy on the Pariser Platz was 
particularly adapted for entertaining, and the 
noble suite of rooms looking on to the Linden 
were seldom empty of guests ; but the Ambassador 
preferred intimate little dinner parties to big 
functions. 

Count Lanza, the Italian Ambassador, was 
perhaps the most appreciated host in Berlin. 
The balls he gave at his beautiful flat in the 
Wilhelmstrasse were noted for the magnificent 
cotillon favours which he chose personally with 
a view to the taste of the ladies he invited. 
Charming bonbonieres, articles of jewellery, ex- 
quisite flowers and bibelots were taken home and 
treasured by many people in Berlin. 

He preferred doing the honours of his balls 
himself. His compatriot, Princess Biilow, often 
complimented him on his consummate knowledge 
of the world and the art of entertaining. He 
seemed to be impervious to fatigue, and was charm- 
ing to all his guests, conveying to each one the idea 
that they did him a favour by coming. He and 
the members of his staff were often present at 
balls given by the proprietor of the house in which 
he lived — a certain Herr von Krause, who occupied 
the ground-floor flat. The Italian Embassy was 
on the third floor. 

The Spanish Embassy was in a beautiful villa 
in the Regentenstrasse, one of the most picturesque 



138 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

streets, lined with trees, near the canal, which ran 
through the city. For a long time Monsieur and 
Madame de Ruata reigned here, and were in 
office during the visit of the King of Spain, when 
the latter came to Berlin, ostensibly for the purpose 
of looking for a wife. 

A large dinner party, followed by a reception, 
was given in his honour. He confided to Madame 
dc Ruata that nobody provided him with sufficient 
bread at any of the dinner parties he had honoured 
with his presence, so a large consignment of fresh 
rolls was kept in readiness that evening, and 
disappeared before the end of the dinner. 

The Ambassadress, who was a devout Roman 
Catholic, begged the King to draw the attention 
of his Ministers to the fact that the Consular 
representatives of Spain were German non- 
Catholics, with little or no knowledge of Spanish, 
and who occupied the posts in an honorary 
capacity for the sake of the prestige it gave them. 
The work of the Consulate and the commercial 
interests were entirely in their hands, and no matter 
how loyal they might be to the country they 
served, their chief interests, of course, were 
centred in Berlin. Nothing but a change of 
Ministry and drastic measures at head-quarters 
would ever put matters on a different footing. 

The Russian Embassy also had a house of its 
own, a magnificent mansion near the Hotel Bristol, 
Unter den Linden. Count and Countess Osten- 
Sacken gave splendid entertainments here ; but 
the Ambassadress, on account of her advanced 
age, cared little for going into Society. 

A few years after our arrival in Berlin, the 
Turkish Embassy migrated from the Leipziger 
Platz, and was transferred to a flat in the Alsen 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 139 

Strasse, overlooking the Spree. The newspaper 
proprietor who occupied the first floor of the man- 
sion in the Leipziger Platz, and who was its owner, 
made himself more and more unpleasant when 
financial difficulties in Turkey reacted upon its 
diplomatic officials abroad. Salaries were very 
irregularly paid, and the rent of the Embassy was 
in arrears. Whenever there was a dinner party 
given at the Embassy, or any guest of note was 
expected there, the landlord chose that moment 
for having the main staircase " thoroughly 
cleaned/' a process which involved, of course, the 
taking up of the stair-carpets. Our dear kind 
chief, Ghalib Bey, felt all these contretemps most 
keenly, and wrote several times to the Porte 
plainly stating the disadvantages arising from 
the financial situation. After vainly telegraphing 
more than once for the payment of rent and salary, 
he resolved to go to Constantinople and try and 
arrange matters personally. 

My husband remained as Charge d' Affaires, a 
post which under those conditions was hardly a 
sinecure. He expected the Ambassador to return 
after a short stay at head-quarters, but his energy 
had cost him his post, and he was never allowed to 
return to Berlin. After some months the Turkish 
Minister in Belgrade, a military officer, was sent 
to Germany on a special mission. The military 
party was ever growing in importance, and it was 
hardly a surprise to most of the diplomats when 
Ahmed Tewfik Bey was suddenly named Ambassa- 
dor to Germany. Nobody was more surprised 
than he himself, for he had made absolutely no 
preparation for a definite stay in the German 
capital. His Turkish wife and child had gone 
to Constantinople from Belgrade with a view to 



140 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

rejoining him there at the termination of this 
mission. 

At that time Turkish ladies were not allowed to 
accompany their husbands to diplomatic posts 
in the great capitals of Europe. Madame Tewfik, 
however, was not to be daunted by laws, written 
or unwritten, and determined to join her husband 
in Berlin, regardless of consequences. She crossed 
the frontier with the passport of a maid who had 
been in her service, and arrived in Berlin with her 
little girl, Pervine. Her resource and courage 
were amply rewarded, when military influence 
was brought to bear on the condonement of her 
peccadillo, and she received permission from head- 
quarters to remain with her husband in Berlin, 
provided she did not attempt to mingle in 
European Society. She remained there for more 
than ten years, and was quite happy in her home 
life, and with a small circle of private friends. 
She studied German and learnt to speak that 
language quite fluently, and her children spoke 
hardly anything else. 

Ghalib Bey had made everything most pleasant 
for everybody round him, and I had often told 
my husband to rejoice in the calm, recreative 
existence then permitted to him. 

After Ghalib Bey left, the whole atmosphere 
changed. Diplomatic work per se disappeared. 
All was run on military lines. Ahmed Tewfik 
Pacha's methods comprised short talks, shorter 
orders, no discussion, military obedience. His 
chief efforts were concentrated on keeping in 
touch with the military elements of Berlin, and 
in pleasing the Kaiser by the interest evinced in 
the education of young Turks. 

Eastern Embassies in the German capital 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 141 

seemed in greater contrast to their surroundings 
than those in England. Everything in Berlin 
was so new. The Apostle of Progress was over- 
busy everywhere, and ultra-modern tendencies 
rubbed shoulders with the halting changes now 
grafted on Oriental immobility. One felt how 
relieved Orientals were when they could throw 
off the veneer of Western custom, and let them- 
selves down comfortably with slippers and chibouk 
in more or less familiarity with their servants. 

In London, where our Chief was a Western and 
a Christian, the Oriental atmosphere rested upon 
a background of European culture. In the Em- 
bassy in Berlin the West floated uneventfully 
upon an Eastern background. 

There was no sort of punctuality in the matter 
of work. My husband, accustomed to keeping in 
touch with the Sublime Porte in weekly comptes 
rendus, disliked this atmosphere of laisser-aller, 
and mere casual replies to definite questions from 
head-quarters. 

He was the only official Christian functionary 
in an entirely Oriental staff, and found that, 
compared with London, his work was almost a 
sinecure. Most of the dispatches were in Turkish, 
and were answered in that language. 

The Turkish secretaries made many friends in 
German families, chiefly in the military set, and 
little by little the Ambassador surrounded himself 
with most of the prominent members of the 
military staff. 

Schools for the study of Oriental languages 
were endowed, and the study of Turkish, Arabic, 
Chinese, and other Eastern languages encouraged. 
The Embassy was consulted in the choice of 
teachers, and its protection and friendship 



142 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

solicited by the Foreign Office there for the 
students. The passing of examinations in the 
language of any country to which a diplomatic 
or consular official aspired was a sine qua non. 

For many years entertainments at the Turkish 
Embassy had been confined chiefly to men's 
dinner parties, but the new Ambassador deter- 
mined to enter the social lists on equal ground 
with his European colleagues. 

In 1899, Ahmed Tewfik Pacha gave his first large 
dinner party at the new quarters in the Alsen- 
strasse, and the Society papers talked of it freely, 
as it was the first time that the representative 
of the Padishah in Berlin had officially invited 
ladies to entertainments in the Turkish Embassy. 

I assisted him in doing the honours, and we were 
all anxious that the beautiful suite of lofty rooms 
overlooking the Spree should look their best. 

Florists, who are nowhere more artistic than 
here, were given a free hand, and they trans- 
formed the apartment into a bower of roses and 
feathery palms. It was one of the coldest months 
of February that I remember, and all the guests 
exclaimed at this sudden vision of summer in the 
depths of winter. 

The servants were in their gala livery and knee 
breeches, and the menu was provided and carried 
out by the Kaiserhof Hotel, as the Embassy cook 
was not considered up to the mark. 

The guests included Prince Hohenlohe, General 
von Plessen (who had a long conversation with 
me on the practical details of Berlin housekeeping), 
Prince and Princess Bulow, General von Lou- 
cadou, Court Marshal von Eulenberg, the Russian 
Ambassador Count Ostensacken, the Roumanian 
Minister and Madame Beldiman, the French 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 143 

Ambassador, the Bavarian Minister, Count Lerch- 
enfeld, Herr von Thielmann, General von Villaumo, 
General von der Golz and his wife, General von 
Hahnke, one or two other officers, and the whole 
of the Embassy staff. 

I sat next to General von Plessen, who, after 
chatting on social matters, suddenly said to me : 

" As you are interested in psychic things, no 
doubt the study of so-called coincidences will have 
a certain attraction for you. We soldiers are 
all more or less superstitious. I have been jotting 
down certain facts connected with the crowned 
heads of Great Britain to try and find out their 
lucky or unlucky days." 

" What on earth for ? " I asked. 

" All knowledge is power," he said laughing. 
" Do you know that nine English monarchs have 
begun and ended their reign on the same day : 
Henry I and Edward II on a Sunday, Richard Ij 
on a Monday, Edward IV and George I on a 
Wednesday, Mary on a Thursday, George III 
and George IV on a Saturday ? " 

" Does that mean that if you want to quarrel 
with a king you would choose one of their unlucky 
days ? " I asked, " or the neutral Friday ? " 

He shrugged his shoulders, saying : " It is 
always unwise to quarrel with kings — they have 
long arms. By the way," he added, " I was 
reading up national emblems to-day, and the 
various legends woven round the Lion and the 
Unicorn. One of them says that the Lion is the 
emblem of the Christian resurrection. According 
to tradition the lion's whelp is born dead, and 
remains so for three days ; then the father breathes 
on it, and it receives life. The horn of the Unicorn 
is supposed to be a protective weapon, and able to 



144 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

detect poison in a liquid by dipping its horn into 
it. The legends of the Middle Ages assert that the 
Unicorn, whose body is white, whose head is 
red, and whose eyes are blue, could only be caught 
by placing a virgin in its haunts. Upon seeing the 
virgin the creature would lose its fierceness and 
lie quiet at her feet." 

" An emblem of the spirit of English chivalry, 
perhaps," I replied, " and the protection England 
affords to those who trust to her power ? " 

He looked at me quickly, saying : " Chivalry 
and quarrels do not go hand in hand. One kills 
the other. I see you do not agree with me," he 
continued, " but it is so. The English would 
always follow a King, and see in him the guiding 
spirit of a father. The very word implies it, just 
as Queen means mother. With us and with the 
Austrians, our monarchs are Caesar or Kaiser — 
each country designates its ruler by a title sugges- 
tive of national characteristics. We Germans 
take an autocrat as our head, and this spirit is 
handed down through all the strata of social life." 

" It sounds rather as if you meant that every- 
body indulged in bullying the people immediately 
below them," I said laughing. 

" There is a little truth in that," he replied. 
" We submit to authority, and like to feel that 
others must submit to us." 

" That does not sound as if you took life 
easily," I said. 

" We never do; we are strenuous, even in our 
play." 

General von Hahnke suddenly joined in the 
conversation. 

" Talking of symbols," he said, " the subject 
of national colours has lately formed a subject of 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 145 

controversy. The red and blue of Great Britain 
signify alertness. 

" The red and blue of Great Britain signify alert- 
ness to danger, and constancy to honour," said I. 

" But the red flag is a symbol of terrorism," 
said the General, " it means danger if people get 
hold of it." 

A young officer lately returned from a visit to 
England said he had roamed about there and 
gleaned out-of-the-way information. He knew 
details I had never heard of, and said that in 
olden days in England, red lattices at the doors and 
windows of inns denoted that the house was duly 
licensed, hence the Chequers or public-house 
signs. He had noted several of these. In the 
days of the Henries the House of Fitzwarren was 
invested with the power of licensing vintners and 
publicans. In some cases lattice has been converted 
into " lettuce " and the colour of the checks 
changed to green. 

A French legend says that a red man commands 
the elements, and wrecks off the coast of Brittany 
those whom he dooms to death. 

" Well, red is danger," repeated von Hahnke. 

The conversation sounded to me almost like a 
code, and I wondered if it were. 

Near Tewfik Pacha, the talk turned around the 
theatres and Hauptman's Versunkene Glock (" The 
Sunken Bell "). This led to a discussion on the 
hobby of collecting bells, which one of the guests 
confessed to, and the power they have by the 
force of vibration. 

" The Koran tells us," said the Pacha, " that 
bells hang on the trees of Paradise, and are set 
in motion by wind from the throne of God as often 
as the Blessed wish for music." 



146 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

" In France, church bells are often rung to ward 
off the effects of lightning or to lay a gale of wind, 
so I am not surprised at anybody taking an interest 
in bells," said a French secretary. 

From church bells, the conversation turned on 
spires, and the emblem of the cock on so many of 
them. 

The Pacha told us that in the stories of Mahomet 
it is said that the prophet found in the first heaven 
a cock of such dimensions that its crest touched 
the second heaven. The crowing of this celestial 
bird aroused every living creature from sleep 
except man. 

Moslem doctors say that Allah lends a willing 
ear to him who reads the Koran, to him who prays 
for pardon and to the cock whose chant is divine 
melody. The bird is dedicated to Apollo, the 
Sun-God, because it gives notice of the rising sun. 
It is significant of a master spirit. Apparitions 
are supposed to vanish at cock-crow, so the bird, 
being a watch bird, is placed on spires. 

The ladies present were interested in the quota- 
tions from the Koran, and Mme. Beldiman asked 
the Pacha to get her a translation of it either in 
French or German. 

She was a very homely, comfortable personality, 
German by birth, and occupied above all else with 
the details of home life. At her charming " At 
Home " days one had the impression that every- 
body connected with her household was well 
cared for and happy. Mme. von der Goltz, on 
account of her husband's long service in Turkey, 
almost considered herself a member of the small 
Turkish colony in Berlin, and was particularly 
interested at the Ambassador's entertainment of 
ladies. She discussed the question with him just 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 147 

before his second dinner party, to which members 
of the Austrian, American, and Italian Embassies 
were invited. Among his guests were also Count 
von Wedel, General von Plessen, General von 
Hahnke, General von Verdy du Vernois, Minister 
von der Recke, and Lieut. -General von Villaume, 
with their wives. General von Scholl and his wife 
were also to have been present, but were prevented 
from coming as the Kaiser sent the General to 
Paris to represent him at the obsequies of President 
Faure. 

At these dinner parties the policy of the 
Wilhelmstrasse was openly discussed, and every- 
body knew that no pains were spared there to 
gain the confidence and friendship of the members 
of the Turkish Embassy, and also that this friendly 
attitude emanated from wishes expressed by the 
All-Highest. From what I could gather it seemed 
to me that Government methods here were not 
very different from those existing in Turkey. 
The real handling of the ropes in both cases was 
done by a despotic ruler, though of course more 
freedom was given in Germany to various heads 
of departments. 

Some of the Germans thought their most pliant 
disciples could be found among the Turks, and 
that they could to a certain extent be moulded 
by their training and example. General von 
Loucadou said to me that he considered the Turks 
temperamentally very like the Irish. In normal 
circumstances the Turk is of an easy-going, patient, 
lovable nature, with a dry sense of humour. 
Referring to the New Turk Party, he said, " The 
awakening of Islam to a new enlightenment will be 
a difficult matter, as one passes through so many 
mirages to reach Islam, and it is difficult to graft 



148 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

realities on brains clouded by visions of life in 
scenes of elfin glory — where the highest bliss would 
be to smoke and saunter, and to gossip away 
life to the weird rushing chant of the Koran." 

" Not quite that," I replied. "Is it not wise 
to live the moment, and endeavour to find the 
solution to the human problem in an existence as 
far as possible free from physical suffering and 
moral unhappiness ? Perhaps if we all tried to 
free ourselves, as they do, from regret for the past 
and anxiety for the future, and live the moment 
resting on a belief in Destiny, we should be 
happier." 

The General did not agree, and said also that he 
could not understand the detached attitude of 
the Turkish fathers to their sons, who did not even 
bear the family name. " They are not like us," 
he said, " We plan vast enterprises, struggle 
after success, and sacrifice our personal felicity 
to the interests of our sons — whereas in the East 
men do not feel under the obligation to trouble 
about them to this extent, and each man lives his 
own life." 

"Perhaps that is best," I answered. "At 
least it brings out individuality — and seems to 
form an alliance between aptitude and oppor- 
tunity." 

An almost Turkish system of espionage existed 
in Berlin regarding the friendships and intimacies 
formed between members of the various Em- 
bassies and any prominent Germans in the official 
world. Diplomatic ladies of especial charm or 
intelligence were labelled " dangerous " in a list 
kept at Head-quarters, for although the Teuton 
thoroughly believed in keeping women in their 
proper place, they did not share the Turk's 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 149 

contempt with regard to their influence. It was 
an open secret that Prince Derenburg was suddenly 
sent on a mission to Russia when it was considered 
that he had fallen too completely under the charm 
of a fascinating woman member of the French 
Embassy. 

At the time when the Crown Prince was growing 
too popular to please the Kaiser, the eagle glance 
was especially directed towards an}/ lady who 
captured the admiration of the Heir- Apparent. 
Theatrical stars were voted as far less dangerous 
in the long run than political or diplomatic women, 
and friendships with the former were encouraged 
regardless of notoriety or public opinion. 

All these matters were discussed at our Embassy 
during the time when Baron von Richthofen was 
Foreign Minister. He was a frequent visitor at 
our house, and although he was of course a very 
eminent official, he had an absolutely non- 
magnetic personality, and reminded me of a 
lizard. He rather prided himself on being able 
to " draw " people, but this was a little fallacy of 
his, as very few people were inebriated mentally 
by his verbiage. 

A certain relative of his in Baden weiler, a 
Countess de Konarska, whom I visited on various 
occasions, was always loud in her praises of his 
domestic virtues and sterling qualities, and no 
doubt these were far above the average. The 
Countess herself was a belle past her first youth, 
which she bravely struggled to prolong by every 
means in her power. Among her friends she was 
always spoken of as : " la rose eternelle," and 
had a mania for singing sentimental songs by the 
hour, after first " allowing herself to be persuaded " 
to warble. 



150 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

As time went on we noticed a great difference 
in everything in Berlin. The arrogance of the 
military set grew rapidly, and civilians, old and 
young, rich and poor, became of secondary import- 
ance. Ladies often had to get off the pavement to 
make room for the swaggering wearer of a uniform. 
In restaurants, cafes, theatres, and all houses of 
public entertainment, every privilege was accorded 
them, and they were made to feel that they were 
the elect. Drifting from the educational forcing 
house, these unbalanced youths, over-ripe and 
decadent, became as spokes in the wheels of the 
enormous military treadmill. 

Night-life in Berlin was truly remarkable. I 
often wondered when the people slept. The cafes 
in the Friedrichstrasse, Unter den Linden, and 
other streets, were ablaze with light until the morn- 
ing hours were well advanced. Bread-winners and 
raw youths wandered from one cafe to another 
until long past dawn, although the strenuous day's 
work began at seven or eight in the morning. 

Luxury and fast living in Society increased year 
by year, and the top note was apparent here in 
all grades of society. Standards shifted, invisible 
influences all round one seemed to vibrate in the 
very air, and react visibly on sensitive tempera- 
ments, which grew more and more restless. 
Avidity of emotion grew with gratification. The 
idle rich cultivated fads and fancies of every 
description. Jaded palates and impaired diges- 
tions were attributed to anything save the real 
cause — an overstraining of the entire nervous 
system. 

When a new secretary arrived at one of the 
Embassies with a sack of nuts and a huge cheese, 
his sole form of nourishment, he found at once 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 151 

numerous disciples. It was no uncommon sight 
to see guests at Lucullus-like dinner parties being 
served separately with the aforesaid delicacies to 
the exclusion of all the succulent dishes offered in 
the most luxurious of menus. 

A dear old ex- war Minister, General von Verdy 
du Vernois, often told me how it amused him to 
observe the new watchwords in the modern game 
of " Follow my leader." 

" No wonder," he whispered to me, one day 
when he took me in to dinner, " that people are 
mostly ill nowadays. Old-fashioned stomach-ache 
is baptised with any new ' ism ' that fools like 
to call it. The doctors are no fools, however, for 
they create a nice new school of diseases to meet 
the peoples' manias." 

The old General had a harmless little mania of 
his own, which was that of improvising verses 
and scribbling them on the menus of his women- 
friends at dinner-time. He nearly got himself into 
trouble with one of the Ministers' wives when he 
returned the menu with personal remarks inscribed 
at the back. 

He and his wife were beloved by everybody and 
were voted as almost the only people in Society 
free from envy, malice, and all un charitableness. 

Manias in food went hand in hand with rebel 
art. From Princess Biilow downwards " curiosi- 
ties " in the matter of artists were sought after 
for the entertainment of guests at receptions and 
private concerts. Musical freaks expounded 
Futurist music. At a big party I remember hearing 
a symphony on Street Cries. A cacheophany of 
crashed dissonances and unfinished chords, inter- 
spersed with painful treble jerks. Also a symphony 
on " Joy " by a Turkish pianist, who explained 



152 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

that he had composed for usa" Lyre of faultless 
agonies." 

At the various exhibitions of pictures, studies 
aping the Turner school, but devoid of his dash 
and genius, grew more and more numerous. 
Balls were not considered perfect unless the cotil- 
lon favours included costly presents of jewellery 
and bric-a-brac. 

Every year we noticed how the old simplicity of 
German family life diminished and gave way to 
growing discontent and superhuman efforts to 
make money by any and every device. The mili- 
tary party, however, relied upon rich alliances, 
as money-making was of course taboo for them, 
and they found it most difficult to live on their 
very meagre pay and at the same time keep pace 
with the ever-growing luxury in daily life. 

Simplicity, however, was the note observed in 
the private life of most of the Ministers of the 
numerous German Dependent States, who were 
accredited to Berlin. Many of them prided 
themselves upon their provincial outlook, were 
loud in their disapproval of the changing standards 
of life in Berlin, and cultivated with pride their 
literary or artistic hobbies, being very proud of 
the same. The Minister for Brunswick, Baron 
von Cramm, was regarded as a successful litter- 
ateur, and once or twice plays he had written were 
performed in Berlin. He asked me to translate 
them into English ; a task, however, which I have 
not yet attempted. Baron von Cramm was a 
short, rubicund little man, with a short, stout 
little wife, both of whom were extremely good- 
natured but very consequential in manner, and 
imbued with a sense of their own importance. 

A more serious literary diplomatic colleague 



LUXURY IN BERLIN 153 

was the Greek Minister, Mr. Rangabe, who, with 
his invalid wife, lived in the Ranke Strasse, then 
almost the confines of the city and now in the heart 
of Charlottenburg. Mr. Rangabe occupied his 
leisure by writing books and plays, some of which 
— among them The Iconoclasts — were translated 
into German. He, too, wished me to translate him 
into English ; which I did, but I have no idea what 
subsequently became of the manuscripts. 

The wife of the Danish Minister, Madame de 
Hegerman-Lindencrone, a most charming and 
gifted American woman, was also a writer of 
articles and books. She was most versatile and 
was extremely musical, with a beautiful voice, 
which had been trained by Garcia. The Danish 
Legation, near the Brandenburger Tor, was one of 
the best known houses, where artists and literary 
people were always welcome. Madame de Heger- 
man was an intimate friend of the Emperor's, who 
was extremely sorry when she left Berlin on the 
retirement of her husband from the activities of 
diplomatic life. Her beautiful daughter, Frederike, 
was one of the most admired guests at the Court 
balls, and was singled out by the Crown Prince as 
his partner in many of the quadrilles. 

Not far from the Danish Legation was the resi- 
dence of the Emperor's favourite architect, Herr 
von Ihne, whose Italian wife, nee Palloni, had been 
a famous singer. Their house, like that of Von 
Mendelssohn, was a centre of musical art. Frau 
von Ihne gained a certain popularity among the 
ladies of the diplomatic world, amongst whom she 
frequently discovered and encouraged musical 
talent. She induced them to practise with her, 
and to sing at evening parties she gave, where they 
would shine as stars in a carefully-prepared and 



154 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

uncritical milieu. I remember being edified there 
by the performances of Madame Velics, wife of 
the Councillor of the Austrian Embassy, whose 
modest little soprano voice could be heard quite 
distinctly if one sat near the piano, while the 
strident tones of Madame Averescu, wife of the 
Roumanian military attache, was best appreciated 
at a certain distance. 






CHAPTER X 

IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE IN GERMANY 

WITH the changing conditions of life 
in Berlin, the network of precau- 
tionary police system was extended in 
every direction. It dealt most efficaciously with 
the following little fraud once practised upon my 
husband. 

One morning my batch of letters contained one 
of his brought to me by mistake, and which I 
inadvertently opened. It was from a Swiss waiter, 
who begged " His Excellency the Councillor " 
for the return of the five marks (five shillings) he 
had borrowed from him, when he had dined with- 
out payment at a certain restaurant a few nights 
previously. 

When I showed my husband the letter, he 
laughed at it at first, then decided that after all 
the matter had better be investigated as the 
writer was evidently sincere in his demand, gave a 
well-known address, and said he needed ' ' all the 
money that had been borrowed from him, as he 
was about to return to his native country/' 

We telephoned for a detective, well known to 
the Embassy, and handed him the letter. This 
official returned after a few hours, bringing back a 
number of my husband's visiting-cards, which had 
been presented at various restaurants by a man 
who had consumed dinners at all of them, and had 

155 



156 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

handed in the visiting-card as a guarantee of 
future payment. It appeared that one of the 
Embassy menservants who had often been sent 
out with a long list of houses where the secretaries 
had dined, with cards to leave there as etiquette 
demanded, had simply pocketed them. After 
having been discharged from the Embassy he 
used them as meal-tickets. 

After this little episode we never left our 
visiting cards by proxy, as was the custom among 
so many people there. 

Just after our arrival in Berlin we were advised 
to put ourselves in the hands of the fashionable 
doctor of the moment, a certain Dr. Buzzi. 
Ailments of every sort, especially nervous dis- 
orders, disappeared like magic under his treat- 
ment. 

There was nothing the matter with me, but I 
thought my husband's health needed a fillip up, 
so one day we called at the Voss Str., and were 
admitted to the presence of a stout, fussy little 
man, Swiss by origin. He manipulated my hus- 
band with very drastic pinches, which he said were 
" kneading," and necessary. He said that for 
three months he must never consume more at a 
time than was contained in the weight of an egg, 
and never more than two things at a time — for 
instance, bread was one thing and water another — 
and he was to eat every hour. As for me, I ought 
to balance myself on my stomach on the back of 
an arm-chair, and every hour massage myself by 
my own weight, the only way to keep slim and 
fit and well. 

I was much amused to find that every well- 
known woman in Berlin was a Buzzi-ite, followed 
his starvation cure, and balanced herself freely 



LIFE IN GERMANY 157 

and frequently on the backs of square arm-chairs. 
Nevertheless the majority of them were square 
too, and plump, and evidently omitted to follow 
the food regime, no matter how much they did 
the massage. 

An unwritten law with regard to lunching and 
dining at friends' houses made it incumbent upon 
all guests to tip the servants of the house when 
leaving. Most of them expected at least two 
or three shillings from each guest, often they 
received much more. People who were not well- 
off found this very irksome. They were not. 
ashamed to don snow-shoes and warm wraps to 
save a cab fare, although they never failed to tip 
the servants, who often were men hired for the 
occasion. 

It amused me to watch the supercilious airs of 
certain flunkeys who went the round of every 
official house. They seemed to embody the stan- 
dards of their employers. One man in particular 
presented the dishes deferentially, and with 
almost a sacerdotal air, to an important old lady 
with a neck like a tortoise, while his manner in 
presenting the same to a pretty little nonentity, 
thirsting for the limelight, proclaimed the fact 
that he felt he was demeaning himself by the act. 

Many members of the official world were 
paupers judged by the standards of the rich 
financiers, and struggles worthy of a better cause 
were made in order to ape the luxury of wealthy 
houses when once during the season they returned 
hospitality. Instead of the wholesome unpreten- 
tious Hausmanskost with which they regaled 
guests during the earlier years of our stay, 
poisonous imitations of French cooking, and 
endless menus of disguised viands made one hesi- 



158 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

tate before venturing to partake of hospitality 
formerly so much enjoyed. As regards walking to 
and fro to dinner parties, I must not omit to 
mention that distances, compared to those of 
London, are very short, and the clean asphalted 
streets in summer and the crisp snow in winter 
made walking a pleasure. 

When I look back upon the charming and 
interesting years we spent in Berlin, many events 
stand out in connection with those which led up 
to the War. 

The Socialist Party, which was composed mostly 
of men of the educated and thinking class, grew 
in importance and magnitude year by year. The 
risings they tried to organise in connection with 
various trade unions were matters which were 
promptly dealt with by the police and the military. 
On several occasions previous to 1905, house- 
holders received official intimation to remain 
within doors as the soldiers had been called up to 
deal with Socialists, and battles were expected 
to take place in the streets. All the seething 
discontent was freely discussed in the official 
world, and even then it was said that it would be 
better if it exploded outside the country in the 
form of a war, rather than go off in spontaneous 
combustion and do its damage from within. It 
will be interesting to watch how the Socialist 
problem is really affected by the other outlet of 
emotions afforded by the War. 

We made many friendships during those eventful 
years, some of them most desirable, while others 
were best laid away as regrettable incidents 
and relegated to oblivion, or softened by the 
enshrouding mist of time. Some of the latter, 
visualised from afar, might be regarded as the 



LIFE IN GERMANY 159 

medium through which one was granted a vital 
experience, and as we all know that experience 
must be paid for, it is best not to cavil at the bill. 

Most of us have known phases of life which 
oppress one like an illness, when one often reaches 
outside the boundaries of one's possibilities for 
the embodiment of ideals, which more often than 
not are so easily within reach on one's own hearth. 

Some natures unfortunately strain out for the 
impossible and unattainable until the earth covers 
them. No matter what they find, they still con- 
tinue seeking. Their real home is perhaps in some 
distant astral world which they dimly remember, 
and towards which they are gravitating. 

In Berlin, as in most great cities, the inevitable 
" friend," with whom women can cheat their 
scruples, is mostly near at hand to encourage 
heart and nerves to be given free play, when in 
reality they ought to be schooled and not treated 
like spoiled children. The Berliners invariably 
confounded sentiment with sentimentality, and 
were fond of seeking out the byways of life 
instead of keeping to the high road and taking- 
existence as simply as possible, and one day at a 
time. 

A picturesque figure in Berlin Society was the 
old Countess von Beroldingen, a widow, who 
devoted herself to the cult of unorthodox beliefs, 
and unusual modes of living. She was a fruitarian, 
and the whole of the long corridor in her flat 
leading from the dining-room to the bedroom was 
fixed up with wooden oaken shelves for the 
storing of apples, the overpowering smell of which 
one was made aware of in the main entrance and 
staircase outside the door of her dwelling. She 
was fond of quoting in English the old saw, " An 



160 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

apple a day keeps the doctor away," and at what- 
ever hour one called upon her, one was offered in 
one form or another these tributes to Pomona. 

She began her day by wading for a quarter of an 
hour in a foot of cold water, which was let into 
the zinc flooring of her bathroom. In all weathers 
she and her only son slept on a balcony exposed 
to wind, snow, and rain. Their only covering 
was a Jaeger flannel sleeping-bag. Porridge was 
almost the only alternative to apples in the matter 
of diet, and she averred that at the age of fifty-two 
her brain power was more forcible than in the days 
of her youth. She was always ready to commence 
the study of a new language, and when I first met 
her she was tackling Chinese. She was a votary 
of the Arts, and a portion of her day was set aside 
for the study of the pianoforte. She began with 
half a century on her back, her master being a 
certain Herr Niedermeyer, a sort of high priest 
of eccentricities. 

She died quite suddenly, at a comparatively 
early age, and her friends said that Providence 
was kind in this, and had recompensed her for her 
praiseworthy efforts by preserving her from the 
inevitable disillusion an artistic career, upon which 
she was bent, would have meant to her. She 
found no pleasure in the orthodox amusements of 
the aristocratic set to which by birth she belonged, 
and she found obvious pleasure in airing her 
democratic views and advocating the levelling of 
the classes. 

She often gave me good advice, and told me it 
would be wise to adopt her favourite maxim : 
Bien /aire et laisser braire. According to her, 
those who were preoccupied by the varying 
opinions of the world were bereft of inward 



LIFE IN GERMANY 161 

resources, and had generally a great deal of spare 
time while they lived by proxy on other people. 
She carefully avoided them, as generally they 
left her with a useless sensation of discomfort. 

Her idiosyncrasies were certainly more interest- 
ing than those of other women in the Berlin 
social world whose only ambition was to be 
considered identified with the Court set in that 
class-ridden city. Prominent among them was a 
certain hostess who certainly had ermine fever 
very badly. Her " caught " Royal manner was 
modelled upon that of the Kaiser's sister, the 
much-talked-of Princess Charlotte von Meinigen, 
and this she is said to have practised to an imag- 
inary gallery whenever she found herself alone. 

All this sounds like silly tales for sillier people, 
but one must have lived in Berlin to realise the 
various degrees of pretentious arrogance prevailing 
in all classes of the community. A title at one 
end of the social ladder was as necessary as at 
the other, and " Mrs. Sweep," or " Mrs. Grocer 
Meyer," played in her particular surroundings 
as important a role as, for instance, Princess 
Ratibor or " Mrs. Court Architect " So-and-So 
did at the other. One category included people 
who were " born," the other, those who were 
not, and whose existence was a non-important 
fact to be dealt with by the others as tolerantly 
as possible. 

All classes of society were unanimous in their 
enjoyment of outdoor pleasures during the late 
spring and early summer. The gardens and caf6s 
round the Tiergarten and in the Grunewald and 
the Zoological Gardens were crowded night after 
night with al fresco diners, while early concerts 

M 



162 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

by energetic military bands lured pleasure-seekers 
from their beds as early as five o'clock in the 
morning. 

Heads of families who wished to pass the summer 
holidays with their children were very restricted 
in the matter of time, for a month was usually the 
limit allowed. Those who did not possess country 
places repaired either to the coast, or inland to 
one or another of the charming resorts in moun- 
tainous districts. 

Many of the diplomats, whose children were 
being educated in Germany, adopted the same 
system and arranged their summer leave to coin- 
cide with their children's summer holidays. 

We usually spent our holidays at some seaside 
resort on the Baltic, the North Sea, or at some 
mountain village, either in the Hartz or the Black 
Forest. 

One of our happiest summers was at a little 
seaside village called Deep, on the Baltic. We 
had joined the family of the Von Zitzewitz's. 
The mother, an English lady, was the widow of 
a favourite aide-de-camp of the Emperor, who had 
died of influenza in his prime, leaving a large 
family of boys and girls of all ages. 

Long lazy days were spent in hammocks slung 
between trees in the woods, through which one 
wandered to reach the open meadows, dotted 
here and there with curious thatched cottages 
of the peasants, above which the storks held 
sentinel. In our various expeditions we picked 
up very old oaken chairs for a mere song, the 
boys carrying them home on their heads in 
triumph. 

p- Life on the Baltic is less interesting than that 
near the North Sea, as the former has no tide, and 



LIFE IN GERMANY 163 

the beach becomes in time very untidy, not to say 
unpleasant. But the beautiful country walks 
afford ample compensation for the want of a 
tidal sea. 

One of our most interesting summers was spent 
at Fano, a little Danish seaside place, with a most 
glorious sandy beach, unequalled, except in 
Australia, and with the best natural golf course 
on the dunes at the back. It surprised me that the 
place was so little visited by the ordinary tourist, 
affording as it does such great natural attractions. 
We reached it from Berlin by the train route 
through Holstein to Essbjerg, where we crossed 
by boat to Fano. It can be reached from England 
by a direct shipping route to the place itself. 

When we were there, Fano boasted of but two 
hotels, the Kurhaus and the " Kongen Af Dan- 
mark," where visitors partook of meals even when 
residing in one or another of the little row of 
villas facing the sea. 

We lived in the Villa Senta, the proprietors of 
which had inhabited it with various dogs, which 
had been allowed to sleep upon the beds with 
disastrous results. One of the little drawbacks 
was an enormous quantity of what the Danish 
maid called Jobber. The word needed no transla- 
tion for us when we saw them hopping about in 
such swarms that we sent out all the mattresses 
to spend a sunny day upon the beach. 

During the "season" there were dances every 
night at the Kurhaus, varied by the most delight- 
ful promenades on the hard stretches of sand, 
over which one could drive for miles with no fear 
of getting damp or submerged. 

For our stay in the Hartz we chose the less- 
frequented spots, and we were particularly fond of 



164 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Lauterberg, and of a little hotel perched on the 
top of the hill above the town, directly upon the 
forest path. 

Winter in the Hartz Mountains, especially 
Christmas time, is most fascinating. I remember 
one year at Lauterberg, when the villagers stood 
in the snow outside the hotel singing : " Stille 
Nacht, heilige Nacht," while inside in the 
darkened hall the guests sat round a huge flaming 
crumbumboli bowl, in which several bottles of 
rum had been ignited beneath a network cover, 
upon which heaped piles of sugar-candy burned 
slowly, and while melting dropped with a hiss and 
a splash into the burning spirit below. 

In the weird blue light everybody, the host 
included, had to tell a fairy-tale, and I remember 
my husband giving Hans Andersen's delightful 
Tin Soldier and Little Paper Dancer, while my boy 
listened absolutely entranced. 

I often wonder whether the leisurely tender 
life of the place has survived the numerous changes 
of late years, for the little house, with its balconies 
looking down on red roofs of the village below, 
seemed enbalmed in peace and rest. Even now 
phantoms of those happy days glide towards me 
from the Garden of Forgetfulness. 

It was in the Hartz Mountains that the scandal 
occurred in connection with two little sons of one 
of the Directors of the Deutsche Bank in Berlin, 
and which will for ever point a moral to mothers 
of growing children, and a warning never to trust 
them to the entire custody of strangers. 

Herr and Frau Koch sent their two little sons, 
Hans and Joachim, to their country house in the 
Hartz with a tutor in whom they appeared to 
have supreme confidence. This man's ill-treatment 



LIFE IN GERMANY 165 

of the boys led to the death of the elder one, then 
about fourteen years of age. When details of 
the case were published in all the papers, one 
realised that the boys were absolutely hypnotised 
by their custodian, and were afraid to breathe 
a single word in his disfavour. 



CHAPTER XI 

MEMORIES OF ARTIST FRIENDS: LAST IMPRESSIONS 
OF BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 

SOME of the most interesting friendships 
made during our stay of over ten years 
in the German capital were among the 
various artists, who were either natives of Berlin, 
or had gravitated there in order to increase their 
prosperity and popularity. 

When we first went to Germany we noticed 
that artists were not accorded the same social 
status as they enjoyed in England. This gradually 
improved when the Emperor posed as Mecene 
des Arts and frequently sent for well-known 
sculptors, painters, playwrights, architects, etc., 
to discuss with them plans of buildings, statues, 
pictures, and even literary work. He often 
corrected the plans of some of these great men, 
much to their embarrassment and anger. The 
hall-mark of the Kaiser's suggestions was freely 
spoken of in all circles of Society, as detracting 
somewhat from the praise due to the principal, 
and sometimes from the artistic merit of the work. 

The number of busts of the Royal patron in 
different poses, so lavishly and indiscriminately 
bestowed upon different people as a mark of 
favour, made it rather a distinction not to 
possess one. One artist after another painted his 
portrait, and among them was a certain Princess 

1 66 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 167 

Lwoff, known as Vilma von Parlarghi, an adven- 
turous lady who painted an extremely good 
portrait of General von Moltke, which was much 
talked of at the time. 

The Emperor was very kind to her, but she 
spoilt her chance with him by tactless chaff. 
He left her one day in high dudgeon after she had 
irritated him by exclaiming : " Still-gestanden, 
Dickerchen" ("Stand still, Fatty"). 

When Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Mr. Forbes 
Robertson spent a week in Berlin, on their 
theatrical tour through Germany, I had many 
charming hours with them at the Hotel Bristol, 
where they were staying. 

Their performances of Shakespearian tragedies, 
and The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, at Kroll's 
Theatre, were greatly appreciated by the most 
critical Berlin audiences, and much was written 
in the Berlin papers about the perfection of their 
histrionic art. 

The great bankers, Von Mendelssohn, made 
their house a centre of musical art, and it was here 
that I first learned to know Madame Melba, who 
came now and then to Berlin to sing. 

An interesting friend was the novelist, Ossip 
Schubin (nom de plume of Fraulein Kirschner). 
She lived with her sister, a clever painter, who 
occupied a large studio near the Kurfiirstenstrasse. 
The intelligent sisters surrounded themselves 
with many famous and clever people. Rubinstein 
and Von Biilow were among their intimate friends, 
and Ossip's book, Boris Lensky, has Rubenstein 
for its hero. 

Madame Begas-Parmentier was another clever 
woman-painter, well known in the Berlin social 
world. 



168 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Gabrielle Reuter, one of the most famous of 
modern novelists, was much criticised for her 
ultra-modern point of view, and her fearless 
propaganda of the rights of free love for the sake 
of the child. At more than one afternoon party I 
have seen Ossip Schubin, who was extremely 
conventional, draw her skirts together and turn 
her back on her bolder literary sister, exclaiming : 
" Diese Person!" when Gabrielle entered the 
room. The latter 's friend, Kruse, a most interest- 
ing sculptor, shared Gabrielle's belief, that in all 
love affairs, free or otherwise, frequent periods of 
separation were the only means of really saving 
romance. 

Kruse's busts of Nietzsche are perhaps the most 
interesting ones of that much-discussed genius, 
whose pathetic words : " Have I not also written 
beautiful books ? " were uttered by him before 
madness quite darkened his spirit. 

Marie Madeleine (Baroness von Puttkammer) 
electrified Berlin by her volume, of ultra-erotic 
poetry, Auf Kypros. She was almost a child when 
it was first published, and her intimate knowledge 
of life, and the psychology of passion, were a source 
of wonder to people who knew her. 

She was extremely pretty, and her dark 
vivacious beauty captivated the affection of her 
rather elderly husband, when, as a schoolgirl, 
she danced to and fro to school on the Kurfiirsten- 
damm, her satchel of books swinging to and fro in 
her hand. Her little son, Jesco, was the most 
beautiful child I have ever seen. It amused me 
greatly to see the way in which his mother taught 
him to open wide his eyes, and look upwards to 
show off their beauty. 

The volume of poems afforded an example of 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 169 

that strange precocity which with its amazing 
intuitions, may be said to forecast an experience 
and display knowledge of those psychic influences 
and sexual emotions, either entirely withheld 
from or but dimly perceived through the channels 
of normal youth. 

The poems have been translated into English 
under the title of Hydromel and Rue, and in an 
introductory preface the author says : " Such 
precocity, breathing as it does an atmosphere 
of elemental passion, inevitably conjures up the 
name of Marie Bashkirtseff and in some sort 
challenges comparison. Although pointedly dis- 
similar in style to the work of that wonderful 
girl, Auf Kypros reveals a marked similarity 
in thought and outlook, and much the same 
disregard of the restrictions which convention 
imposes on the treatment of the sexual theme." 

Auf Kypros reached twenty editions in as many 
months, and was no isolated instance of sporadic 
genius, no sudden kindling of an immature talent, 
consuming itself in a single effort by its own 
excessive ardour. 

Before she reached the age of twenty-four, 
Marie Madeleine published other much-discussed 
works, the chief volume of which was entitled : 
On the Folly Strings of Love. 

The following lines translated from Auf Ky- 
pros will serve to illustrate the lyrical charm 
of her less daring poems : 

THE LAST DESIRE 

Like ghostly fingers all night long the rain 

Taps at the window-pane ; 
Among the shivering leaves the winds make moan, 
And all my heart goes out to you again — 
You, who were once my own. 



170 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

And: 

THE TALISMAN 

Love's outward form of worship well I knew ; 
But Love I knew not till I came to you. 

And since our lips have met you are to me 
Love's one obsession, and the sole decree. 

Your gentle voice, its rise and swooning fall : 
It seems through all my days I heard you call ; 

It seems I strove to capture long and long 
Your secret, like a half-forgotten song 

That touched my spirit to I know not what 
Of life once cherished, and remembered not. 

Perhaps the most vivid personality among all 
our friends was Helene von Donniges (Princess 
Racowitza) . 

One wonders sometimes if the tide of German 
history might not have been turned in quite a 
different direction if Ferdinand Lassalle had not 
been killed in duel by the young Roumanian 
Prince, Racowitza, for the love of the beautiful 
Helene von Donniges. His influence in the 
socialist party in Berlin was so great at one time 
that Bismarck thought it worth while to try and 
win him as a friend, and to keep his eye upon 
him. 

He fell madly in love with the golden-haired 
daughter of the Bavarian diplomatist, Herr von 
Donniges. The stormy and impetuous love- 
making of the man and the infatuation and weak- 
ness of the woman, the obstacles of the irate 
parents and the subsequent death of Lassalle 
were told in her Memoirs years after George 




PRINCESS HELEXE VON RACOWITZA 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 171 

Meredith had written his Tragi-Comedians in 
which the hero, Sigismund Alvan, is drawn from 
Lassalle, while the heroine, Clotide von Rudiger, 
was the portrait of Helene. Their tragic love- 
story is also told in Homes of Famous Lovers. 

When I stayed with her in her tiny flat in 
Munich, where she passed the evening of her days, 
I heard from her own lips descriptions of the 
delightful days of her childhood in the vicinity of 
the Bavarian Court, and of the literary and artistic 
celebrities who frequented her father's salon. She 
was petted by Hans Christian Andersen, who told 
her his fairy-tales, and was the playmate of the 
Crown Prince, later the ill-fated King Louis of 
Bavaria. Her life was full of love episodes, for 
she was a most beautiful woman and full of senti- 
ment. Hers were not merely straw fires of 
emotion, but romances. As I sat on the balcony 
overlooking her little garden, years rolled back 
as Time's sweet-scented manuscript was unfolded 
in the shrine of her memory, and I listened to 
pages of a human document inscribed in indelible 
characters on a woman's stormy heart. 

She was married only five months to Prince 
Racowitza, who died of consumption, and was 
buried at Nice. Then she espoused the actor 
Friedman ; and when I knew her she was married 
en troisieme to the Russian Baron Serge von 
Schewitch. 

She was marked by Fate, and her charm and 
beauty induced the Jesuits to try and win her as 
their agent when Prince Racowitza died, and the 
iron Bismarck to seek her services as a political 
spy. She evaded both parties, and later on de- 
voted her talents to the stage. During her 
theatrical life in Austria she was a friend of the 



172 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

great painters Lenbach and Hans Makart, and 
sat to both of them. 

As she was a very spoiled woman, she could 
never learn to play a secondary role in any social 
gathering. So when I knew her — she was then 
quite old — she told me she recognised her limita- 
tions, and if ever she emerged from her life of 
seclusion she " beat herself up like an old circus 
horse " from four to seven — went through her 
paces in a befitting manner, and ebbed quietly 
away by playing patience for an hour to calm 
her nerves before retiring to rest. 

When she lost her husband she felt too feeble 
and too panic-stricken to face life alone with 
poverty as companion, so she herself put an end 
to it. 

I often wonder what her feelings were as she 
faced consciously the Great Immensities, for she 
had become an ardent theosophist, and often said 
that the after-life of a suicide was too terrible to 
contemplate, as it must be expiated until the 
allotted span were ended. 

In spite of the vagaries of her brilliant life, she 
had many faithful friends to the day of her death. 
Those who once knew her declared that the days 
passed without her became insipid and without 
charm. 

In one of our many chats on her pretty balcony 
in Munich she would say to me : "I am of 
yesterday, not of to-day, and living now far from 
the world, I have a bird's-eye view of it. I would 
not wipe out even the memory of many of my 
mistakes, although some of them are of the kind 
for which we pay all our lives." 

The sculptor Eberlein and his beautiful wife, 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 173 

Maria, nee Countess Herzberg, were very interest- 
ing people. Some of Eberlein's statues are in the 
Tiergarten, and I remember how furious he was 
on one occasion when the Kaiser insisted on 
correcting his very best design. 

His gallery is at Minden, his native place. He 
is proud of his peasant extraction, and built a 
charming house on to the little cottage by the 
River Lahn, where he was born. On the opposite 
side of it he built a second residence and a studio. 
The garden surrounding it was full of interesting 
statuary which he had collected in Greece and 
Rome. 

The first-mentioned house was called the 
Eberbastei, and contained a large hall set apart for 
artists' gatherings. In the centre of the ceiling 
was a curious plastering representing a coat-of- 
arms he had humorously composed, a little 
boar (Eber), upon a mountain of hearts (Herzberg). 

The long narrow stone table was lit with Roman 
lamps, the chairs, all of different shapes, were 
wound round with trails of fresh green at every 
feast, and all the men wore wreaths of green 
leaves. At one of his Dionysian festivities at 
which we were present, songs and music between 
each course were de rigueur. Eberlein played 
charmingly upon the guitar, and his wife had a 
beautiful voice. Improvised verses (Schnadahuftfle) 
upon all the guests present were sung in turn, and 
we were all expected to respond to these person- 
alities in verse. We sat at table for hours, and 
then went out in the garden which led to the 
river. At the end of the lawn sacrificial fires were 
lit. 

Eberlein adored his home and exercised all his 
artistic ingenuity in the arrangement of it. 



174 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

I remember my first impression on entering 
the drawing-room of the Minden villa by a divided 
window, the upper part of which was a bright 
yellow glass. Eternal sunshine seemed to filter 
into the room. A white cross cut d jour in the 
yellow glass, acted as ventilator. Every corner 
of the octagonal room was differently decorated. 
Facing the door, two large panelled landscapes 
were painted on the walls, framed in by lincrusta 
leather in dull red and gold. At the right was 
an altar with a Madonna and child, in front of 
which were two or three silver Roman lamps. 
On the ground in front of the altar stood two tall 
brass candlesticks containing thick wax-candles. 
Beyond it was a door leading to a shady 
balcony. At the foot of a divan stood Eberlein's 
famous bust of his wife, on the terne of which lay 
quantities of ragged red dahlias. Upon a raised 
recess stood a piano, and above it upon the wall, 
and grouped picturesquely upon the floor were a 
quantity of musical instruments, drums, kettle- 
drums, trumpets, cornets, mandolines, clappers, 
castanets, and various-shaped guitars. 

This rococo room gave a motley impression of 
beautiful pictures, old Italian carvings, statues, 
music, and flooded light. The beautiful flat in 
Berlin was just as artistically arranged, though, 
of course, in more conventional surroundings. It 
was the rendezvous of most of the great artists 
of the day. 

One met also amateur artists and litterateurs of 
no mean capacity among the wealthy Jews, whose 
hospitality was proverbial. Prominent among 
them was an old Geheimrat, a delightful person- 
ality, who not only composed verses in his own 
language, but made charming translation of 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 175 

English poetry. He had a collection of every 
new volume of minor poetry which had appeared 
in England during the last twenty years, and was 
continually adding to it. He declared that among 
them he discovered many gems unappreciated 
by the writer's countrymen. 

He loved England, which he visited frequently, 
but disliked London on account of the weary 
restlessness of London people. 

Among the remembrances he had carried away 
from big London routs where, as he said " five 
hundred perspiring people were crowded into rooms 
capable of holding a third of the number," was 
the impression of the avidity with which people 
scrambled for food. He had made a sketch from 
memory of an oldish woman dressed in black, 
who had wandered for over two hours up and down 
a buffet tasting everything. 

The old man's sympathy for and appreciation 
of women encouraged their confidence, and when 
he began discussing his gallery of remembered 
personalities, I recognised many familiar types. 
There was the woman who bragged about things 
she would never have the courage to do, who 
blackened herself by her recitation of enormities, 
which she only lived by proxy ; the skittish 
mother who chaperoned an elderly daughter, 
whom she always introduced as " My little girl " ; 
the woman who pathetically clung to passion 
long after the time she had lost the power of 
inspiring it, and who hurried breathlessly after 
life, which with measured tread was leaving her. 
He pitied women, who in the autumn of life most 
needed sympathy, and were then the least likely 
to find it. 

He at least never had that most pitiful of 



176 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

experiences, for his great tolerance with all 
phases of life and sentiment invested him with 
that gracious charm that captures hearts and 
never loses a friend. 

He was fond of saying that life is not dependent 
on what we find in it, but upon what we make 
of it. It takes us in unexpected ways, and we 
should all try to focus our minds to spiritual 
planes differently tilted to our own. In the un- 
licensed laws of social pleasures, people were very 
foolish in forging for themselves chains which 
necessity rivets for the less fortunate, so in the 
end things were more or less balanced, for there 
are always people who are slaves to detail and 
lose sight of essentials. 

The wife of one of the wealthiest Berlin bankers 
was a prominent hostess of those days, and her 
" jours " and dinner parties included all members 
of the diplomatic corps. She was a most intelli- 
gent woman, interested in all the political and 
social questions of the day. She disapproved of 
the lengthy, copious, indigestible repasts, accom- 
panied by various brands of wine, and was fond 
of introducing gastronomic innovations. It was 
at one of her parties that I first partook of camo- 
mile tea and peppermint tea, which after dinner 
were handed round in little crystal cups instead 
of coffee. 

People were fond of discussing the peculiarities 
of her household, the elements of which were 
certainly unusual. When a widow with a large 
family, she married a widower, also possessed of 
numerous progeny, and their own union was 
blessed with olive branches. So conversation often 
turned upon " Your children, My children, Our 
children," One wondered whether further 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 177 

matrimonial alliances would blossom on this 
parental hearth. 

A welcome guest at this house was Lady White, 
widow of a former British Ambassador to Con- 
stantimople, who, a German by birth, made her 
home in Berlin. She was most entertaining in 
her views of life and people in general, and full 
of reminiscences of her life in the Turkish capital. 
In speaking of her Constantinople friends, she 
was fond of saying that the inhabitants of Pera 
had the blood and the vices of six nations in their 
veins and the soul and virtues of none. 

A picturesque personality was Frau von 
Warmbuhler, wife of the Minister for Wiirtemberg, 
one of the twenty-five German States represented 
by legations in Berlin. 

This lady was of Russian origin, the divorced 
wife of the great electrician Von Siemens, and 
her life contained all the elements of romance. 

The Emperor was godfather to her eldest son, 
Bill, and the beauty and charm of the lady herself 
opened the door to all hearts. She was an ardent 
occultist, and I spent many interesting hours in 
her charming boudoir in the Voss Strasse. I 
always regretted that I was unable to accept her 
invitation to stay with her at her husband's 
Schloss, Ghemingen, near Stuttgart. 

Our own Ambassador was one of her great 
admirers and he made various attempts to paint 
her portrait from memory. He often spoke of her 
in the motor trips we took with him when private 
automobiles were just begining to be used in 
Berlin. His diplomatic privilege, and the red 
and green cockade worn by his chauffeur, placed 
his car beyond the jurisdiction of the police, who 
held up their hands in horror as it raced at break- 



178 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

neck speed down the beautiful asphalted road of 
the Charlottenburg Chaussee towards Potsdam. 
His wife complained that this speed tired her 
heart, she was continually listening for the squeal 
of unfortunate hens or dogs which were flattened 
out on these whirlwind expeditions, and I am sure 
that she was thoroughly glad when she returned 
home in safety. 

The status of servants in our Ambassador's 
household was very Eastern in character, and 
Ahmed Tewfik treated his personal attendant in a 
patriarchal and fatherly manner. A male factotum, 
Franz, was a most versatile creature, and in every- 
day life more like a motherly nurse to the Am- 
bassador's two little girls, Pervine and Nessoun, 
discussing their diet, and amusing them for hours 
together. In his gala livery he officiated at the 
big dinner parties, and acted as chasseur when 
accompanying his master to Court functions and 
social gatherings. Franz was quite an important 
personage in his way at the Berlin Servants' Club, 
where Bedouins of the stewpan and personal 
attendants of distinguished foreigners foregathered 
on certain evenings in the week. 

Among my friends in the corps diplomatique 
was Madame Avarescu, whose husband was then 
Roumanian military attache, and who rose to 
such prominence during the War. She was much 
interested in cooking, and sometimes invited her 
friends to a luncheon, which they were to cook 
themselves under her supervision. We turned up 
our sleeves, donned white aprons, and made the 
most succulent and delicious dishes, highly- 
flavoured soups, braised chicken, artichokes 
simmered in oil and excellent risotto, in the 
composition of which I became most proficient. 



BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 179 

Madame Avarescu was Italian by birth, very 
musical, and full of gaiety and en train. As she 
had no children of her own, she had adopted a 
little boy, upon whom she practised the maternal 
privileges denied her by nature. 

The last year of our official stay in Berlin was in 
1905, the year of the marriage of the Crown Prince 
with the beautiful Princess Cecilia of Mecklenburg. 
The event was the occasion of the visit of a num- 
ber of foreign potentates, and our present King 
and Queen were guests of Tumour at the ceremony. 

We attended the imposing marriage service 
held in the small Court chapel and the subsequent 
Defilir Cour and festivities. The wedding took 
place at five o'clock in the afternoon, when a 
procession, headed by two heralds in tabards 
and twelve pages in scarlet cloth, proceeded 
through the various apartments towards the 
chapel. The bride wore a dress of silver tissue 
and a small jewelled crown, which every Prussian 
bride wears on her wedding-day. She was escorted 
by the bridegroom in full uniform, and her train 
was carried by four young ladies selected from 
the most aristocratic families of Berlin. The 
Empress followed with the bride's brother, the 
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and after 
her came the Emperor walking side by side with 
the bride's mother, the Grand Duchess Anastasia. 
The other members of the Royal house followed, 
walking hand in hand. 

The Lutheran wedding-service is very simple 
and extremely impressive. All the ladies wore 
Court dress and the men full uniform. The chapel 
was crowded, the corps diplomatique was fully 
represented, the members standing just outside 
the ring formed by the Royal party. 



i8o FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

After the nuptial blessing the newly-married 
pair, followed by the Royal party, proceeded to 
the White ballroom and held court there, all the 
guests filed past them as an act of homage and 
congratulation to the bride and bridegroom. After 
this, dinner was served in various rooms, the 
diplomats and other guests were seated at round 
tables, where the following menu was served, and 
the health drunk of the newly-wedded couple. 

The grand climax was the famous Torch Dance, 
which took place in the ballroom at the end of the 
evening. The wedding-party returned to their 
places on the Royal dais. The bride's mother was 
one of the most beautiful women present. Slow, 
stately marches were played by the band stationed 
in the gallery. The Marshal of the Court walked 
once round the room, followed by a double row of 
pages, each bearing a lighted torch, and halted 
before the bride and bridegroom, who hand in 
hand descended from the dais and, preceded by 
the torch - bearers and followed by the train- 
bearers, walked once round the room and then 
separated, the bride to lead the Emperor on one 
side, and her own nearest male relative on the 
other, while the bridegroom gave his hand to his 
mother and to the mother of the bride. This 
group then marched round the room to the measure 
of the stately Saraband, the train of the bride's 
mother was carried by four pages. After this new 
members were added to the Polonaise, towards 
the end of which as many as three or four of the 
younger members of the Royal guests spread out 
on either side. 

We stood in the ring of spectators who watched 
the glittering crowd, and it was certainly an 
unforgettable sight. About nine o'clock the 






BERLIN OFFICIAL LIFE 181 

ceremony ended, and the wedding-party wended 
its way from the ballroom, after which pieces of 
white satin ribbon, marked with the bride's cypher, 
were distributed by the Mistress of the Ceremonies, 
in deference to an ancient custom which repre- 
sented the gift of the bride's garter. With this, 
souvenir packets of sweets wrapped in silver 
paper and surmounted by the photograph of the 
happy pair, were carried away as remembrances. 

About this time my husband's name was under 
discussion at the Porte for the Governorship of 
the Lebanon. His ten years' experience of the 
country under Rustem Pacha made him one of the 
most likely candidates for the post, which was 
about to become vacant. 

Of course we talked over the prospect such a 
change would make in our lives if ever this 
materialised, and my husband doubted very much 
whether life in the Lebanon mountains, which 
was practically banishment from all the resources 
of European capitals, would be really desirable, 
and also whether the climate at his advancing age 
would be conducive to health. He applied for 
leave to go to Constantinople while the question 
was under discussion, but this was refused, as 
during the Hamedian regime the higher diplomatic 
officials were seldom allowed to leave the country 
to which they were accredited. Just at this time 
we received invitations from old friends of his 
in Beyrout to visit them there and at their 
country place at Chemlan, in the Lebanon. My 
husband suggested that my son and I should 
utilise these summer holidays by accepting this 
invitation, and that he himself should pass the 
vacation in the Bavarian Alps. This was eventu- 



182 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

ally decided upon, as it would be a good oppor- 
tunity for us to get a bird's-eye view of the life 
there, but I agreed to this rather reluctantly as 
it would be the first time we had not passed the 
summer holidays all together. 

We all three left Berlin in the beginning of 
July, and started from the Anhalter station to 
proceed to Munich en route for Garmisch, the 
delightful little village in the heart of the Bavarian 
hills. From there we drove to Kainzenbad, where 
my husband had decided to remain for a rest 
cure, and where my son and I were to rejoin him 
on our return from Syria and to accompany him 
back to Berlin. 

My heart was very heavy when, after a few 
happy days, we said good-bye in the beautiful 
garden at Kainzenbad. It was a glorious day, 
and the mountains stood out in all their beauty, 
sharply defined, as the train left Garmisch for 
Munich. I watched them until a sudden turn of 
the road hid them from view. 

Our first halting-place was to be Bucharest, 
which we reached via Vienna and Budapest, and 
after breaking the journey here to make a short 
stay with a friend who had been maid of honour 
to Carmen Sylva, our plan was to go from there 
to Constantinople, where after a brief visit to the 
Turkish capital we could proceed by boat to 
Bey rout. 



CHAPTER XII 

BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 

OUR first impression of the City of Pleasure 
— as Bucharest is aptly called — reminded 
us that we had left Western cities behind 
us, and had entered on the first stage of an 
Eastern journey ; a certain touch of Orientalism 
seemed to brood over its ultra-modernity. 

We arrived there on Sunday — the day that, as 
in most continental cities, is given up to amuse- 
ments — which at this time of the year were chiefly 
sought in the open air. 

Our hostess had arranged luncheon for us in 
the garden adjoining her house, to be followed 
by a drive round the city afterwards. 

The driver, a Russian, looking rather like a 
priest, in long black velvet gown and silk sash, 
whipped up his two coal-black horses to a furious 
pace until we begged him to moderate his 
zeal, and give us a little more time to see the 
sights. 

I cared little for glimpses of the Treasury and 
various Ministerial buildings, but lingered in a 
garden of oleander trees and roses that surrounded 
a lovely Greek church built by a Princess 
Brancovan. One of the daughters of Musurus 
Pacha had married a Prince Brancovan, and I 
had often heard of her artistic tastes. She was, 
among other things, a charming musician. When 

183 



184 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Abdul Hamid heard her play the piano he was 
so delighted that he was ready to give her anything 
she asked of him. She did not use his promise for 
political ends, as many other women might have 
done, but left any mark of favour to the Sultan's 
sense of generosity, which took the form of 
gorgeous decoration and jewels. 

Abdul Hamid loved music and had his own 
private orchestra and theatre at Yildiz Kiosk. 
Like the eccentric King of Bavaria, he liked to sit 
in solitary glory at performances of operas or 
concerts, and rewarded the artists in the most 
lavish manner. 

He also loved animals, and had an ostrich farm 
in the Castle grounds, and a veritable zoological 
garden in another part of them. His scheming, 
inscrutable brain seemed to find relaxation and 
enjoyment in anything rather than in contact 
with human beings, none of whom he ever trusted. 

When the time of his deposition was nearing, 
it is said that his suspicion was such that nobody 
ever knew where he slept. He ostensibly occupied 
certain apartments in the Palace, and would 
retire to one bedroom or another, but invariably 
wandered off unseen to some other room, probably 
in quite a different wing of the Palace. 

The little church in the oleander garden seemed 
to protect the adjacent almshouses for eighty poor 
ladies, which the benevolent Princess had also 
built, and her name was constantly blessed there 
daily. 

The town was buzzing with pleasure-seekers — 
women in smart Paris gowns hurrying to concerts 
or open-air theatres ; men strolling about, laughing 
and joking ; nobody seemed to have a care in the 
world. Society people had migrated to their 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 185 

country seats, as the season here was in the 
winter, but the town looked full enough, and 
everybody was out of doors. 

There were numerous German cinemas, and 
even then German influence had begun to try and 
creep in and spread its tentacles throughout the 
populace. At the theatre under the stars, which 
we visited after dinner, it was the translation of a 
German play, Die Lachenden Erben (" The Merry 
Heirs"), which held the Roumanian audience in 
thrall. It was a picturesque site for an open-air 
performance. 

The large stage was flanked by oak and beech 
trees, and green boughs waved above the rows of 
seats placed for visitors. Just beyond it, verdant 
slopes led to the lake of Chichnichu, on which 
we spent an hour after the performances, in a 
boat, listening to the weird concert of thousands 
of frogs whose crescendo croakings sounded quite 
unearthly. 

Next day we called at the Turkish Legation, 
and found there an old friend of the London days, 
Moustapha Bey. He was charming to my son, 
whom he had known as a little child. He could 
hardly believe that the tall young man before him 
was the same little boy he had played with in 
Bryanston Square. He advised him to follow in 
his father's footsteps, and try and get into the 
Turkish diplomatic service. 

He liked the laisser-aller and gaiety of life in 
Bucharest, but told us that it was not easy for a 
Turk to steer clear of friction in the political 
world here, as the Roumanians had comparatively 
recently been emancipated from the Turkish 
yoke. 

Prior to 1879 Roumania had been a Principality, 



186 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

in which a Diplomatic Agent represented the 
European Powers. Now there were Legations 
and Ministers. " They remind one of the nouveaux 
riches," he said, with his quaint, quiet laugh. 
" They feel the need of asserting themselves, lest 
we forget they are now a full-fledged, emancipated, 
independent nation ! 

" A Turk has to be especially suave and careful 
not to wound their susceptibilities, and, as you 
may imagine, it is very tiresome sometimes. One 
can never let one's self down, or chat on real terms 
of equality with them. They are everlastingly on 
the look-out for slights or veiled venom, and are 
ready to misinterpret most things we poor Turks 
say or do — to our disadvantage — and they always 
try and veil their real meaning as much as possible. 
Don't try to come as far east as this en poste, 
Lucien Bey," he added, tapping my boy on the 
shoulder. 

" Indeed, I won't," Lucien replied. " Life is 
complicated enough in most places, without 
having to nurse people's feelings all the time, 
and then have to peel them like an onion to try 
and find out what is at the core of them." 

''Why an onion?" laughed Moustapha Bey. 
" That king of vegetables is fragrant right through, 
and there is little chance of mistaking its aroma." 

Moustapha Bey admired immensely the work 
and influence of Roumania's beautiful and beloved 
Queen Elizabeth, who, though a German princess 
of the House of Wied, absolutely identified herself 
with her adopted country, and shared her hus- 
band's efforts in the making of Roumanian history, 
when it had to earn its place among the countries 
of Europe. 

In the earlier days, while Prince Charles 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 187 

devoted himself to modernising and improving 
his land and settling the institution of its laws, 
his consort, " Carmen Sylva," rescued from decay 
the exquisite poetry and legendary lore of the 
peasants and mountaineers, and devoted herself 
heart and soul to the children of her new land. 

She learned their language, wore the national 
costume, and did everything in her power to 
ameliorate the lot of the peasants and the poor 
people. 

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 she 
dressed in the uniform of the Red Cross Society, 
and was a second Florence Nightingale in tending 
the sick and dying. 

The Roumanians spoke of her as " The Queen 
of Hearts," and a devoted admirer wrote in one 
of her books : " Ce n'est pas Votre Couronne 
que j'aime, Madame, mats c'est ton dme — 
Elisabeth ! " 

The loss of her only child, the sweet Princess 
Marie, gave her an insight into every sorrowing 
mother's heart, and her book, Pilgrim Sorrow, 
turns on this saddest of themes, and tries to pour 
balm on the deepest of all wounds. 

During our few days' stay in Bucharest, I saw 
on all sides evidences of Carmen Sylva's philan- 
thropic works. 

The Societe de Bienfaisance — a woman's club — 
looks after four hundred women of various 
nationalities, while the schools for the blind were 
erected at her instigation. 

She encouraged women of Society to wear the 
national costume during the gay winter season, 
when she organised charity fetes. It did not 
require much encouragement to do this, as the 
costume is so very becoming to almost any 



188 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

wearer, while the beautiful Byzantine embroi- 
deries with which the dress is trimmed afford 
work to many ladies in reduced circumstances. 

I never remember such heat as we experienced 
in Bucharest. We were told, nevertheless, that it 
was nothing in comparison to the scorching hot 
wind called Austru, which reduces the inhabitants 
to a state of exhaustion for some three months 
during every year. 

Charming as the city is, the climate evidently 
is one to be reckoned with, as an Arctic wind, 
known as Crivets, blows on and off for another 
three months annually, while one can count at 
least on sevent}/ days of rain. Spring hardly 
exists, save in name, as the interval between 
winter and summer is of the briefest. 

The long autumn is the most genial season of 
the year, and lasts until the end of November. 
It is then that the country house visits are 
exchanged, and social life becomes very animated. 

As I had been in correspondence in Berlin with 
Carmen Sylva, regarding the translations of some 
of her poems, my hostess had arranged that I 
should pa}/ a visit to her summer residence, 
Castel Pelesh, at Sinaia, and I hoped to be able 
to see the Queen there. 

The drive up to the Palace was through glorious 
pine and beech woods. The building, surrounded 
by exquisite gardens, nestles in the heart of the 
Carpathian hills, and has the most romantic of 
settings. 

My first impression of Queen Elizabeth was, 
that time could never arrest the charm of such a 
marked individuality as hers. She was no longer 
beautiful, but as she walked up and down the 
balcony outside her music room, filmy draperies 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 189 

flowing from her snow-white hair, her face beaming 
with benevolence and intelligence, I quite under- 
stood why her people loved her so dearly. 

She chatted freely about her work. " A holy, 
magical thing is work," she said, " the panacea 
for all ills, the only cure for nervous diseases, the 
only real consoler in grief. 

" When I cannot sleep," she added, " I do not 
allow myself to toss about in bed, worrying 
myself ill because insomnia has paid me a visit. 
I invariably get up and seek some congenial work, 
sometimes music, more often literary work. If 
Nature wanted me to sleep, I should not be awake, 
so why torment myself ? " 

She gave me a little volume, Letters to Sleepless 
Ones, which I treasure among my most interesting 
possessions. 

Her rooms were charming. One had an im- 
pression of pictures and musical instruments, of 
tropical plants, of the plashing of hidden fountains, 
and the twittering of birds. 

I often think of the motto she set up as a device 
for the guidance of her well-filled life : 

" I am not here to judge, but to help." 

Now that she has passed away, the memory 
of her charm and good works will live in the 
hearts of all those who came within the range of 
her influence, and our greatest poet has told us 
that this is " not to die." 

The day after our visit to Sinaia we left, via 
Costanza, for Constantinople. When our train 
reached Orsova we got out to admire the iron 
gates, and the marvellous bridge which fared so 
badly in the War. 

The passage across the Black Sea was merci- 
fully quite calm, as one can have a very nasty 



190 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

time during that crossing if the sea happen to be 
rough. 

We reached Constantinople about midday, met 
our friends on the quay, and embarked with them 
almost at once for Therapia, where a great many 
people passed the summer. 

As we reached the first landing-stage, en route, 
we were alarmed by a loud explosion, which 
turned out to be a bomb which had been hurled 
at the Sultan, Abdul Hamid, as he was leaving 
the Selamlik after his Friday devotions. It fell 
short ol him, but destroyed fifteen carriages, 
slaughtered several horses, and killed many people. 
He himself remained unharmed, a fact which 
led the devout to believe more implicitly than 
before that his person was sacred, that he was 
the elect of God and the Prophet, and above the 
machinations of evildoers. Whatever his faults 
may have been, and according to contemporary 
historians these were legion, nobody could ever 
accuse him of cowardice in face of emergencies, 
like this assault by bomb. 

He remained absolutely calm, held up his hand 
to forbid panic, re-entered the mosque to offer 
a prayer of thanksgiving, and drove away from 
the scene of slaughter with unmoved, though pale 
face. 

Whatever he felt inwardly was never revealed 
by that inscrutable countenance, with its heavy, 
melancholy eyes and impassive, closed lips. This 
episode, however, made a deep impression on him, 
for it was a long time before he would consent 
to receive anyone, especially diplomats, in private 
audience. 

One by one every European Power — excepting 
Germany — was suspected by him as having 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 191 

instigated the plot, and he brooded a long time 
on a befitting quid pro quo for the culprit, as soon 
as his guilt could be established. 

Our stay in Constantinople was to be of short 
duration, as the boat for Beyrout left soon after 
our arrival there. An interview was granted us 
with Tewfik Pacha, then Foreign Minister, and 
afterwards Ambassador to London. 

My husband had given me various messages in 
case I could see him, and I waited in an ante- 
room of his palace with a certain amount of 
trepidation, when we were shown into his wing 
of the house. 

Coffee in tiny jewelled cups was brought us by 
a dusky serving-man, who informed us that His 
Highness was being massaged, but if we could 
wait a little while, he would be pleased to see us. 

The big square house was situated on the top 
of a hill, and the view from the window was 
beautiful enough to absorb one's attention. We 
looked down across a lovely rose garden to the 
distant Bosphorus, deep blue in the haze of the 
summer morning. 

Lost in admiration of the vista before us, we had 
not heard the approach of the Pacha, and started 
when a deep melodious voice said : " Bonjour, 
Madame, je suis charmedefaire voire connaissance." 
I turned to meet the benevolent gaze of two deep- 
set, brown eyes, and an outstretched hand which, 
European fashion, he extended to me. 

He ncdded slightly to my son, who greeted him 
with the respectful temena and deep bow. 

" So this is the son of one of our best function- 
aries," he continued in French, motioning us to 
be seated. 

My son, however, remained standing, as the 



192 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

venerable Minister took a chair opposite the sofa 
on which I was sitting. 

" You are making a short stay in the Capital ? " 
he asked. 

" Yes, Altesse, we are en route for the Lebanon, 
to visit old friends of my husband, who was there 

so many years with Rustem Pacha, and who " 

I hesitated, and with a smile he continued : 

" Who thinks perhaps he may be going there 
again ? This, then, is a visit of reconnaissance ? " 

" If only he had been allowed to come here 
with us now," I replied eagerly, " just for a little 
holiday. It is so many years since " 

A protesting hand was lifted. " One must 
sometimes be the slave of duty — and of circum- 
stances. I hope you left the Bey well ? " 

" Not so very well," I replied. " The years in 
London undermined his health. He is anxious 
that our son should have the opportunity of 
entering the Service under his guidance. May he 
count on your Highness' protection when the 
time arrives ? " 

My heart was beating high at the boldness of 
the demand, in a country where women are held 
so far away from everything connected with 
business or the discussing of careers. 

He looked at me for a moment reflectively, and 
said : " You, too, were very busy in London, 
Madame. A woman can do much, in her particular 
sphere." 

I wondered if this were implied praise or blame. 
In any case my question had remained un- 
answered. 

" When the time comes," he said gently, 
glancing at both of us, " we will not forget long 
years of faithful devotion," 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 193 

I felt the " interview " was over, and rose to 
thank him, and curtsey a farewell. But the hand 
was once more proffered, and " Bon voyage et 
bonne chance " uttered in the kindest of tones. 

We passed through a wide marble courtyard 
and out into the sunlit streets. 

Turning to one of the arabas — little jolting, 
one-horse, open carriages — we drove round Stam- 
boul towards the bazaars. We paused in the 
courtyard of the pigeon mosque, where we bought 
a few paras' worth of grain to feed the birds that 
surrounded us in swarms. Turkish mothers love 
them, and believe they contain the souls of dead 
children. We lingered in the dim aisles of the 
Spice Bazaar, where the chattering Greek and 
Armenian vendors did not intrude with their 
insistent clamour. 

In little gilded niches above the archways 
captive nightingales shrilled and trilled in the 
heavily-perfumed eternal twilight. Beyond the 
fretted iron portal at the end, a blaze of red, 
white, and green in a vivid patch of sunshine 
proclaimed the vicinity of the flower market. 

It amused my son to see an old Turk who was 
too lazy to move from his seat, and get up to sell 
his wares. We fingered a Turkish tooth brush, 
which was just a piece of wood fretted one end 
into a fringe, and he motioned us to take it, 
together with a piece of musk, which looked like 
a dried dog's tongue. We proffered a medjidieh 
(four shillings), but rather than give us change 
(of which there seemed an eternal dearth), he 
made a weary movement of the hands, and with 
an upward nod of the head signed us to be off, 
and take the unpaid things with us. 

We took a caique and crossed to Eyoub, one of 



194 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

the most characteristic Turkish villages, contain- 
ing a famous mosque with the Prophet's Banner, 
and boasting of a Magic Well, presided over by 
an old woman who was supposed to be a great 
fortune-teller. 

The caique danced over the deep indigo waters 
of the Golden Horn, seagulls rocked on the crests 
of the waves ; an indescribable air of gaiety and 
freshness lay over the city, with its fairy tracery 
of mosque and minaret. On shore the emerald 
green slopes held tapering cypresses and turbaned 
tombstones, which also stood sentinel on their 
summits. The vigorous strokes of the boatman 
landed us soon at the little old-world village, 
which proclaims with myriad voices the soul-life 
of the people. 

The leafy streets were silent and almost deserted. 
Foliage of fig tree and laurel shaded the quaint, 
silver-grey wooden houses. Not a footfall dis- 
turbed the peace of the deep verdant groves 
beyond the mosque. Only the birds sang. 

We entered the shady courtyard of the sanct- 
uary, where the blazing sunlight filtered through 
the luxuriant verdure of sycamore and plantain, 
and made the marble floor a mosaic of green and 
gold. 

Before the sanctuary guarding the Prophet's 
Banner, stood a guardian with drawn sword, and 
a curtain was hastily drawn across it as we 
approached. 

In the Holy Grove beyond, centuries have 
garnered the flower of the Ottoman race. Upon 
the railings enclosing shrines and tombs little 
strips of coloured cotton stuff, torn from the 
garments of suppliants, fluttered in the breeze, and 
represented pathetic notes of personal pleading. 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 195 

We sauntered up a shaded hillside, and a 
sudden turning of the road revealed a deep, silent 
pool. Near it towered a giant plantain, beneath 
which sat a woman, closely veiled. 

She seemed incorporate with the drowsiness of 
the landscape. Two dark, mournful eyes gleamed 
above her yashmak. She motioned us to a little 
rush stool placed near the hollow trunk of the 
tree. 

She bade us welcome in a low melodious voice, 
and invited us to refresh ourselves from wooden 
plates full of curdled milk, sprinkled with cinna- 
mon and rose-water, which she had placed within 
the hollow tree-trunk. 

She beckoned me to the water's edge, and 
following the direction of her pointed finger, I 
looked down into the clear green water. In its 
depths a picture suddenly took form. I saw 
mountains, at the foot of which nestled green 
valleys and quaint houses. Beyond the mountains, 
upon a distant horizon, was a second picture of 
deep blue waters, and the tracery of outlines 
resembling those of an Eastern city. At the foot 
of the mountains stood a familiar figure, which 
to my distress was suddenly engulfed by the 
towering hills, assuming the appearance of a huge 
dragon's head, in which the opening mouth closed 
upon the lonely figure. 

My thoughts involuntarily flew to the Bavarian 
mountains, and it was some time before I could 
overcome the feeling of dread and apprehension 
with which the vision filled me. 

I pressed money in the old woman's withered 
palm, and she thanked me, murmuring: "Your 
heart is rich, without it wealth is a beggar." 

It was late afternoon when, full of foreboding, 



196 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

I returned to the quay. Groups of women and 
children in their picturesque veils were dotted 
here and there on the hillside, seated near the 
graves of their dear ones. 

We entered one of the little cafes, whose 
windows displayed pyramids of coloured cakes, 
piles of fresh and candied fruit, and where a 
savoury dish of fried mutton and pilaf was 
prepared for our evening meal. 

When we boarded the caique on our return 
journey, the mysterious night descended sud- 
denly, and the purple sea was strewn with stars 
which lay around and above us like blazing 
jewels. 

The moon threw her silver mantle over hillside 
and trembling waters, while a phosphorescent 
trail marked the passage of our boat, which 
seemed to be steering for the gossamer realms of 
fairyland. 

Next day I found there were several formalities 
to be gone through before we could leave Con- 
stantinople for Beyrout. We had to obtain a 
teschkere, or permit, for departure, and our 
passports had to be vised both at the British 
Consulate and at the Porte. I began to fear that 
the usual indolence in action and deliberate 
methods would prevent us catching our boat, 
which left only once a fortnight for Syria. 

We paid a visit to a German lady married to a 
Turk very high in office, whose residence was 
always guarded by soldiers in uniform. These 
men expressed their disgust and dislike of Chris- 
tians by a most unpleasant habit of expectoration. 
When complained of, the guard was changed, but 
as evidently no orders were ever given as to the 
cessation of this horrible habit, the question 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 197 

resolved itself merely to a change of spitters. 
The Pacha's wife complained to me bitterly of 
this, and I sympathised with her, although I 
was anything but prepossessed by her own 
untidy mode of dress, which reminded me of an 
" eternal slipper," as the Berliners say. 

She showed me many interesting curios, among 
others a letter addressed to her husband, which 
began as follows : " To the Most opulent Governor 
with reverence, and with the three mundane 
essentials — the heart, the speech, and the body — 
from one who has acquired a minute jot of learning, 
such as may be compared with an insect's mouthful 
of water." 

I often wondered how any European woman 
could possibly stand the stagnation of harem life, 
even when not annoyed by the presence of other 
wives. Polygamy is less and less practised by 
Turks of the higher class, who find the care and 
maintenance of one wife as much as they can 
manage. 

Without doubt habit, even in the matter of 
harem life, speaks for much, and romance depends 
upon the soul, but it seemed to me like living in 
mask and armour, guarding look, movement, 
and tone in a restraint which surely at last must 
make one the possessor of a dead heart, which 
no longer would need any sort of control. 

She showed me an old chest containing letters, 
which she called her memory-box, and from which 
she drew haphazard and with closed eyes the 
wherewithal to find distraction in endless hours 
of boredom. When I was allowed a peep into 
this well of silent sympathy, I thought they 
looked very much the worse for wear ; they were 
yellow with age, and I was told that most of the 



ig8 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

hands which had penned the missives were now 
folded in death. 

This sounded so melancholy, that I suggested 
she should devote herself more to the realities of 
life, and spend a certain amount of time every day 
in gardening. 

There was a beautiful rose-garden at the back 
of the house, which could have been made into a 
dream of beauty. I even succeeded in arousing 
within her a mild form of enthusiasm, when I 
suggested that the lovely ramblers and white- 
starred creepers should be trained over tarred 
rope, slung in swinging arches from tree to 
tree, and I believe that later on she carried 
out my suggestion with the most successful 
results. 

I even dared to try and induce her to burn some 
of the many letters she had collected, some of 
which were from contemporaries and of a com- 
promising nature, but her refusal was clear and 
decided. She said I wished to deprive her of the 
only things which gave her the " relief of tears " ; 
sad enough words, which brought to my mind the 
well-known lines of prayer : 

Oh, let the waters flow again, 

The fountain of my life unspring ; 
For all Life's sands are parched with pain, 

And desolate the heart I bring. 

Needless to add that I wisely refrained from 
any correspondence with her in spite of the tragic 
unreserve with which she assured me that I could 
do so much for her by bringing this new interest 
into her life. But I had no fancy for helping to 
fill the mournful contents of the memory-box, 
and assured her that if she were wise she would 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 199 

refrain in future from indulging in orgies of 
retrospection. 

I am glad that I saw the Ottoman Treasury 
before it was dismantled, and many of its contents 
sold. 

When I went there with some people who had 
obtained a finnan from the Sultan in order to 
gain admittance, I noticed in the first room a 
throne which looked rather like a big dish with a 
raised cushion in the centre. It was one mass of 
precious stones, and had been taken from a 
Shah of Persia. The collection of swords, daggers, 
bowls, vases, etc., etc., were all richly encrusted 
with gems. In an upper room a row of dummies 
exhibited the various costumes and turbans worn 
by former Sultans, each one different, and some 
of them with marvellous aigrettes, the insignia 
of sultans and shahs. Soliman the Magnificent 
had worn an aigrette composed of diamond 
sprays, feathering out from a centre of enormous 
rubies and emeralds. The most ancient of the 
turbans was gigantic ; the size diminished with 
each generation, until terminating in the fez, 
first worn by Abdul Aziz. 

Near a collection of gem-studded coffee-cup 
holders, spoons, etc., I noticed a wonderful little 
monarch composed of precious stones, and seated 
on a little throne. His body was made of one 
huge pearl, his legs out of single turquoises, the 
head was a large pearl in which two turquoise 
eyes had been inserted, and the arms were repre- 
sented by single pearls, all of which had retained 
their natural shape. 

There was a collection of coins, a delight to the 
heart of a numismatist, and I soon ceased to 
wonder why our party was accompanied by 



200 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

twenty-four soldiers, who followed us from room 
to room to see we pocketed nothing. 

From the wonderful courtyard of the Seraglio 
Gardens we entered some of the beautiful kiosks 
which were dotted about here and there; one of 
which, used as a library, was lined with shelves 
of Arabic books. In another kiosk, more on 
modern lines, we were asked to be seated on 
chairs placed in a row down the centre of the 
room, where, as guests of the Sultan, refreshments 
were brought to us. We were offered a dish of 
rose-leaf jam served on a tray containing glasses 
of fresh water and spoons. Each visitor ate a 
spoonful of jam and drank some of the water. 

After this a servant in Eastern dress carried in 
a circular gold tray covered with a red satin cloth, 
followed by a second servant swinging a golden 
machine which looked rather like an incense-burner. 
The satin tray-cloth was taken off by a third 
attendant and slung over his shoulders, and 
minute coffee-cups in golden egg- cups studded 
with diamonds were disclosed to view. A fourth 
attendant filled the minute porcelain bowls from 
the swinging jug, and we all partook of the most 
delicious coffee I had ever tasted. 

We were then rowed across the water in ten- 
oared caiques to the palace of Beler Bey, and on 
to the huge marble palace of Dolma Backge, 
which, in the time of Abdul Aziz, was only entered 
by Moslems. Its ballroom is the most magnificent 
in Europe ; there is also a fine picture-gallery, in 
which, however, the pictures are hung too badly 
to be seen to advantage. 

I was greatly interested in my first visit to the 
Sclamlik, when Abdul Hamid visited the Medji- 
dieh mosque. We watched it from one of the 



BUCHAREST AND CONSTANTINOPLE 201 

windows of the Guard House, to which, by special 
privilege, we had been admitted. 

The sand-strewn road was lined on either side 
with soldiers, and when the Sultan drove by in an 
open carriage, accompanied by two officers, the 
weird national minor hymn was struck up by 
military bands, and sudden pauses in the per- 
formance were made when all the soldiers and 
spectators were expected to cheer, the latter 
performance consisting of a hoarse cry on one 
note. 

The Sultan remained about twenty minutes 
inside the mosque, when he entered a room of the 
kiosk to watch the march past of the troops. 
These were a fine set of men, each regiment 
headed by its band, and each band playing, 
" Alia Stella Confidente." 

Two horses and three carriages were waiting 
for the Sultan to choose the manner in which he 
preferred to return to his palace. On this occasion 
he drove back himself, his coachmen and out- 
riders running beside the carriage. 

His face looked like a mask. Not a muscle of it 
moved. The mournful eyes scanned indifferently 
the countenances of the spectators assembled 
for the purpose of watching the autocrat enter 
and emerge from the mosque, where he could 
commune with the One Being whom he considered 
above himself in power. 

I wondered what form his supplications took, 
or if the very word were a misnomer. 

His face held all the weariness of people bereft 
of desires, because of their certain and immediate 
gratification. Ambition was perhaps the keynote 
of his character. To measure his own subtlety 
against the might of Europe, to hold at bay 



202 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Powers with which he could never hope to compete 
in fair contest, occupied probably the intricacies 
of his mind. 

His secretiveness and craft certainly bluffed 
the whole of Europe. He never put his cards 
upon the table. He realised there was so little 
behind them that he would be shown up as the 
" Sphinx without a secret," and. the whole of his 
policy and power would collapse like the pro- 
verbial house of cards. 

Subsequent events proved that he was right 
in his surmise, and that to have kept afloat so 
long as he did was due to his genius for diplomacy, 
which has hardly been matched in history. 




THE SULTAN ABDUL HAMID AS A YOUNG MAN 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CALL OF THE EAST 

FROM Constantinople we went to Beyrout 
by way of Samos, enjoying the novelty of 
everything about us. 

We arrived in the port on the Mediterranean 
at the end of July, and took our tickets for 
Chemlan in the Lebanon at a little shed in mid- 
street which was honoured by the description and 
designation of the railway-station. 

Crowds of people were standing or squatting 
amongst trucks, engines, and vehicles to watch the 
event of the day — the starting of the train, which 
was still more or less of a novelty to the natives. 

There were no luggage vans on it, so our trunks 
had to remain in a shed to follow us later on. 
As there was only one rail we had to wait until 
the train from Damascus arrived at Beyrout. 
Punctuality was a trifle of no consideration what- 
ever. 

The journey as far as Babda was through flat, 
uninteresting country ; rows of stunted olive trees, 
white with dust, bordered the line on either side. 

Our host and hostess met us at the station at 
Aley, where women in big Paris hats were seated 
with their men friends at little tables, drinking 
coffee or sherbet, to await the arrival of the train. 

We drove along dusty roads to a large, square, 
sparsely-furnished house, with balconies running 

203 



204 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

all round it, and my first impression on looking 
down the Lebanon hills was one of disappointment. 

Huge brown boulders, stunted olive trees, 
unbroken dreariness as far as the distant streak 
of blue, which proclaimed the encircling waters 
far away. 

The bedrooms were large and airy, but ants 
swarmed in the crevices of the stone floors, and 
the mosquito curtains over the beds did not 
prevent huge spiders crawling up them. One of 
them, with a body the size of a walnut, was 
careering up my curtain as I entered the room. 

My host was a notable of the country and 
extremely wealthy, yet there were no household 
conveniences to hand. Water had to be fetched 
in buckets from a spring a mile and a half distant 
from the house. The people of Aley were very 
proud of this spring, that yielded the purest 
drinking water for miles around. 

My hostess, Austrian by birth, had become 
quite identified with the country, and spent most 
of her afternoons playing cards for high stakes or 
driving about with her numerous friends, most 
of whom wore the latest creations of Worth, 
Doucet, or Drecol, in spite of the very limited 
circle of admirers possible in this distant spot. 

The climate was treacherous — stifling heat all 
day, and sudden damp, dewy cold after a rapid 
sunset. 

Our host, who spent most of his mornings on 
one of the balconies purling his chibouk and 
contemplating the landscape, often said : "A h, 
Madame, ici on vit longuement ! " 

I agreed that one must have a certain amount 
of leisure to be able to enjoy life, but stagnation 
in these hills would drive me mad. 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 205 

He took us over various silk factories, where 
the machinery was all worked by coal brought 
from England. A large fortune awaits some 
enterprising financier who will some day utilise 
the brown coal in which the country is so rich, for 
the working of her increasing number of factories. 

I soon saw that French influence was still 
striving to be paramount in Syria, and, as else- 
where in the Near East, France was tenacious of 
her religious supremacy. 

The country was torn by the dissensions of 
various sects of the Druses and Maronites, and in 
a long conversation I had with one of the Turkish 
officials, I gathered that emancipation from 
Turkish yoke was the secret dream of the Arabs 
and other indigenous inhabitants of Syria. 

I was walking with him through what he 
proudly called " our forest." I was as tall as 
most of the trees, and looked in vain for anything 
in these woodland paths that could give one a 
sense of rest or recreation. 

The thick white dust into which one sunk 
ankle-deep only made me feel tired and thirsty. 

" Times have changed here/' he said to me, 
" since Rust em Pacha and your husband were in 
office. Salaries from head-quarters are paid with 
more and more irregularity, the soldiers are 
discontented, the people are murmuring against 
injustices. The rich merchants, Greeks and 
others, wax fat on the sweat of the people, who 
are beginning to wonder what it is all for. 

They have an exaggerated idea that England 
will one day be their liberator; pilgrims from 
Koweit tell them that the Sheik there will always 
be safe, as he has concluded an alliance with 
England whose ships would safeguard the port, 



306 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

and protect them all in case of riots and wars. 
Therefore the British Consulate is venerated now 
as much, and more than the French. Ah, if one 
could but look a few years ahead ! The people 
here think and hope that your husband will soon 
come here as Governor. They never tire of talking 
of the ten years when Rustem Pacha ruled — his 
equity, his reforms, the beautiful roads he made 
round the mountains ! And your husband would 
follow in his footsteps ! " 

" I wonder / " I replied reflectively, and glancing 
at my companion : " You do not seem to be 
particularly happy here!" 

He shrugged his shoulders. "It is too far 
away from home for me," he said. " One loses 
touch with things. Until the mails get to and fro 
all my dear ones could be dead and buried." 

"Too far from Turkey?" I exclaimed. "Then 
what about the rest of Europe ? " 

" Banishment," he answered laconically, " with 
insufficient compensations for the same. How- 
ever, remember Caesar's utterance, ' To be first 
anywhere has its consolations.' It is nice to come 
here as a visitor, but not as an official. One 
should have one's return ticket in one's pocket." 

I did not reply to this, but my mind flew back 
to the Bavarian mountains, and I longed to be 
there again, without delay. 

The Arabs and natives round Aley spoke 
English quite freely — the result of the work of 
the American schools in Beyrout- — and thus I was 
able to talk with many of them, and found that a 
wave of discontent at the existing state of things 
was underlying their lives and all their thoughts. 
Their quaint philosophy and superstitions were 
interesting. 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 207 

One day when driving round one of Rustem's 
wide roads towards the Cadi's bridge, our carriage 
stopped at the grave of a malevolent negro, and 
we were asked to get out and throw a stone 
at it. 

This struck me as a terrible epitaph of hatred, 
and my son and I were for letting the dead rest in 
peace. But we were assured that the man's ill* 
deeds had been so far-reaching, that all right- 
minded beings who passed his grave ought to 
mark their disapproval, 

In deference to the customs of a country in 
which I was a visitor, I ended by throwing the 
smallest pebble I could find. 

The sun hung heavy in the haze of the sky as 
we sat at last on the Cadi's bridge. Up the 
mountain paths leading to the Governor's palace, 
which we were to visit in a few days, trails of 
camels rocked along, swinging their long necks, 
and followed by numbers of mules and asses. 
The tinkling of the different bells worn by these 
animals rang out like concerted music, for the 
bells were attuned to the species of the wearer, 
so that native drivers recognised the different 
herds of beasts by the note of their bells, and 
could tell one in a moment which were camels, 
asses, or mules. 

I watched them until the sultry vapour of heat 
gradually stole them from my sight, and won- 
dered what impression I should get of Beit-Eddin 
when we went there. 

During the earlier part of Rustem's Governor- 
ship the Duke of Clarence and his brother, our 
present King, had halted there during their tour 
through Syria, which was superintended by 
Cook's. I still have one of the very simple menus 



208 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

served to the members of the English Royal 
House, in those distant days. 

As we drove back to Chemlan quaint pictures 
met the eye wherever one glanced. At one spot 
a shoemaker was plying his trade beneath a 
spreading fig tree, his tools spread out on a low 
bench before him. In another corner road- 
mending .was proceeding in the oddest and most 
deliberate manner. The man who was digging 
drove his spade into the earth, while two other 
men hauled it up when full, by ropes, which were 
attached to the handle of the spade and knotted 
round their necks. A picturesque, dignified- 
looking little boy in flowing robes and turban sat 
cross-legged upon a fountain solemnly watching 
them. He had evidently been recently promoted 
to the dignity of the Selamlik, and was at the age 
when boys are taken from the harem and the 
influence of their mothers and sisters, to be 
brought up in the company of the male members 
of the community. A white-bearded, venerable 
old Arab patted him on the shoulder now and 
then, while looking on and encouraging the 
efforts of the road-menders. 

I shall never forget a visit which we made that 
evening to a beautiful old stone house, standing 
in the centre of a courtyard, which in the old days 
had often been lent to my husband by its owner, 
Marquis Freige. When we descended the few 
stone steps which led to the square, which was 
shaded by giant fig trees, we seemed to enter a 
biblical atmosphere which had reigned there for 
centuries, and which had never been invaded by 
the Apostle of Progress. 

Silence reigned in the large square rooms, which 
seemed empty save for the wide divans running 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 209 

round the distempered walls, and the beautiful 
Oriental rugs which covered the stone floors. 
Outside the latticed windows flowering amber 
trees sang in a wealth of golden colour. 

Their quaint grey-green leaves formed a spiked 
screen through which the sun blazed in vivid 
patches, making patterns of mosaic on the pink 
distempered walls. 

I sat on one of the wide divans and listened 
to the silence. There was a faint odour of aloes 
and camphor mingled with a perfume of ambergris 
and musk, which made the air heavy with 
mystery. 

Shadows of the past seemed to hover in the 
dusty corners of arched corridors and peace- 
enshrouded rooms. When we emerged into the 
sunlight to walk up the hill to the house, I took 
away with me the impression of a poem stolen 
from the prose heap of life. 

Next day I suddenly felt restless, and very 
anxious to return to my husband. 

Both my son and I felt enervated and tired, 
and from the slight experience we had already had 
of the life and the climate we felt it would be 
preferable for us all to remain in Europe in a more 
modest post, than to try and come to live here. 
As I am quick at decisions, I resolved to return 
at the end of the fortnight, to join my husband in 
Kainzenbad, and spend the rest of the vacation 
there with him, all three of us happily together 
again. 

There were great outcries of remonstrance when 
I announced my plans. We were told that in any 
case we must not leave for Europe without first 
visiting Heliopolis or Baalbeck. We could reach 
it in a day, travelling most of the way by train, 



2io FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

and could spend a night under tents at a farm 
belonging to our host on the Plain of Horan. 

We took the train at Aley, passed Rayak, and 
Malacca, and reached Thalia, where a carriage 
and black Arab horses met us. We were driven 
rapidly across the plain, which drowsed in the 
midday heat and was surrounded by snow-capped 
mountains. 

We found that " camping under tents " was 
on a luxurious scale. The one allotted to us was 
very picturesque, white canvas outside, and lined 
within with bright-coloured Arabian cloths. 
Another tent was reserved as a kitchen, and 
presided over by an excellent chef, M. Joseph, 
and his marmiton ; another was the dining-room, 
and three others were used as bedrooms. 

It was the time of harvest, and huge piles of 
wheat were heaped up in the centre of the plain. 
At their bases, wide boards drawn by oxen, which 
were driven by a picturesque Arab, either standing 
or squatting on the planks, were dragged round 
and round the heaps to separate the chaff from 
the wheat. Straw was sorted out on the spot, 
and everything placed in different sacks ready 
for transport, exchange, or immediate sale. 
Camels, mules, and donkeys stood about in patient 
groups ready to be laden up when required. Many 
of the donkeys have their nostril slit, which the 
natives declare is the only way to prevent them 
braying. 

At the further end of the plain stood rows of 
low, one-storied Arab dwellings, built partly of 
stone and partly of bricks made on the spot with 
a mixture of earth and straw and baked in the 
sun. 

These little houses were clean and comfortable 



THL CALL OF THE EAST 211 

inside. Most of them contained a large white- 
washed room with a stone floor. The distempered 
walls were adorned with Damascus plates, other 
china ornaments, weapons, and Eastern bags of 
rope, filled with a medley of curios. 

Many of the inmates of these houses welcomed 
us with every demonstration of affection, repeat- 
ing my husband's name over and over again with 
smiles and tears, while they patted my boy on his 
shoulder and shook him by the hand, talking the 
while most volubly in Arabic. We were asked to 
sit upon a pile of cushions placed for the purpose 
in the centre of the room in the principal hut, 
while the inmates of the others squatted round us 
in a ring for the purpose of conversation. 

All round us lay beautiful gardens, tobacco 
fields, and mulberry plantations, as mulberry 
trees are extensively cultivated for the silk- 
worm industry. 

After luncheon, which was on a par with any 
served at the Carlton or the Ritz, we rested for a 
short time before preparing to drive to Baalbeck 
to visit the ancient ruins of the sun- worshippers. 

We arrived at the Acropolis about four o'clock, 
and were net by the one guide of the place, who 
was to show us over the ruins and explain them, 
as far as possible, in the short time we had for 
our visit. 

My son and I were the only visitors to the 
Acropolis on that afternoon, which will stands out 
for ever in my memory. 

We wandered through the deserted altars of 
Baal, through the temples of Bacchus and Venus, 
where statues, pillars, and remnants of stately 
stairs involved a common confusion. 

The magnificent parthenon, larger than that of 



212 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Athens, stretched in a distance of over a thousand 
feet from east to west. 

Obelisks, symbolical figures, giant columns of 
exquisite workmanship, and broken marble tracery- 
lay around us deserted in the hot August sunshine. 

Once it had all been the centre of the high road 
of commerce between Tyre and Palmyra, a seat 
of wealth and splendour. 

We passed through the Trilithon, long ago 
tenanted by Roman soldiers, into the great 
Court of Jupiter, temple of the Sun-God, Lord of 
the Heavens, the male principle of life. 

It gave us quite a shock to see an enormous 
modern bust of the German Emperor fixed upon 
the wall of one of the most ancient and noble of 
the temples. 

The All-Highest had visited these ruins during 
his famous visit to Palestine, and left this memento 
here to mark the tide of history. 

In some of the vaults we saw huge wooden bales 
containing statuary which he caused to be col- 
lected on tha spot, and nailed up ready for shipping 
to Berlin for a large Oriental museum which was 
in course of construction there. 

We returned to our hotel, and after dinner, 
when we entered the open carriage to drive back 
to our tents, we found that the night had suddenly 
descended like a purple pall. As the Arab horses 
raced across the plain at break-neck speed, the 
moon stole out into the domed firmament, and 
the deep indigo, star-studded sky throbbed above 
us in almost terrifying beauty. 

The gradual green light of the moon lingered 
on the snow-capped mountains which enclosed 
the slumbering valley. 

Wide silent spaces lay around us and before us, 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 213 

starker than the sea, more sombre, more illimitable, 
more mysterious — an oppressive, alluring im- 
mensity. The air was full of the strange magnetic 
scent of slumbering flowers, and in these wonderful 
moments, when the heart of nature throbbed in 
boundless hospitality, the depths of the spirit 
seemed to open and flowemn this limpid Syrian 
night. 

Sleep seemed very far from my bed as I lay 
inside the tent, the mountains all around me 
seemed to be whispering their secrets to the valley, 
which received them into its heart. Just before 
dawn I was thoroughly aroused by the snorting 
of camels and mules, and men's voices talking in 
low tones to each other. I lifted the flap which 
served as window, and peeped out to see strange 
silhouettes gliding about the heap of grain, 
everything shimmering and melting into fantastic 
shapes in the few moments before the sudden 
sunrise, which heralded the advent of another 
day. Leisurely life awoke. In the sudden blaze 
of sunlight, dark, sharply defined figures stood out 
as if answering the Sun's call, and I realised that 
all this was not dreamland, but that in an hour 
or two we should be returning to Beyrout, and 
to-morrow be on our way to Constantinople, 
en route for Bavaria. On our return to Chemlan 
I was delighted to find long letters from my 
husband forwarded from Bucharest and Con- 
stantinople, where we had just missed them. He 
did not wish us to curtail our visit, although he 
was longing for our return, and looking forward 
to hearing our impressions of the country in 
which he had spent so many interesting years 
of his life. 

I was, however, very glad that we had decided 



214 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

to leave at once, and pictured his delight at 
seeing us some weeks earlier than he had expected. 

We gave ourselves up with light hearts to the 
enjoyment of our last evening at Chemlan. A 
few friends who had come to dine started charades 
and simple games of forfeits and " guessing," 
which seemed to date from one's nursery. Outside 
the house the jackals startled us with their 
melancholy cry. 

Suddenly my hostess started the idea that I 
must tell fortunes by cards or by the hand. 

In vain I expostulated. I was not in the least 
inclined for it. Then seeing my hostess' dis- 
appointment, I resolved to do what I could, as 
this was our last evening. 

Palm after palm was outstretched, and my 
utterances met with incredulity, laughter, or 
wonder. 

My hostess insisted on my telling her fortunes 
by cards. 

" You will very shortly have news of a death 
which will cause you the greatest grief." 

" No, it is not a relation," I added, as time after 
time the same card of evil omen was cut, but 
evidently somebody very near and dear to you 
and your husband." 

" Do not spoil our last evening together by 
such nonsense," said my host, taking away the 
pack, and pushing aside the table to make room 
for dancing. 

Next day I finished packing, and in the cool 
of the evening drove to Aley to say good-bye to 
Mrs. Drummond-Hay, wife of the British Consul. 

On my return I saw my hostess standing at the 
head of the stone steps of the entrance, smiling 
and waving letters and a telegram. 






THE CALL OF THE EAST 215 

I was delighted to see that the letters were 
again in my husband's handwriting. Then I 
opened the telegram. 

The few words it contained announced crudely 
his sudden death. 

Of the hours which followed it is impossible to 
write. The world goes on remorselessly, whether 
one's dear ones are in it or not. Those who are 
left behind, still at the tether of life, feel as if 
the magnitude of anguish must inevitably fling 
them also forward, to mingle with the spinning 
atoms, in the vast Unknown. 

Sometimes, in such terrible moments we find 
friends who, no matter if we never meet again, 
remain in our hearts interwoven with memories 
which never can be effaced. Their sympathy is 
a gift of God, which we cherish as such, and take 
with us into Eternity. The vision I had seen 
when we visited the old woman of the well flashed 
into my thoughts, and, trivial as this may seem 
to many of my readers, I thought again and again 
of the evil omen in the cards, for my husband 
was an old friend to whom my host and hostess 
were deeply attached. 

My boy and I started on our return journey 
early next morning, and, as in a dream, we drove 
down the winding dusty roads which led to 
Beyrout, tears and lamentations following us, 
where laughter had welcomed us but so recently. 

When the soul is lamed, and hope is struck, 
one feels paralysed, and seems to wander in an 
unreal world, like an automaton. 

A few incidents stand out from the days and 
nights spent on the Saghalien. Every evening 
my son and I sat at the extreme end of the ship 
as it ploughed its way through the moonlit waters. 



216 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

We talked about our dear dead, of his great 
learning and humility, of his saint-like qualities 
of unselfishness and devotion, of his noble, 
upright life, so suddenly ended. His spirit seemed 
very near to us, as we were borne onwards to 
changes and uncertainty, until the night brought 
us sleep, hushed by remembrances. 

At last we watched the Samos hills fading once 
more into the distance. At Smyrna telegrams 
were brought on board from friends at Constanti- 
nople, which tried to prepare us for the terrible 
truth we knew already. Soon a jagged purple line 
sprung into vision across the horizon — the domes 
and slender minarets of Stamboul, clear-cut 
against the afternoon sky. 

As they grew more and more defined, a voice 
like the echo of a dream, seemed to be whispering, 
" Love, and Death, and Pain are the bones of life." 

On our return to Constantinople, Sir Henry 
and Lady Woods and Ihsan Bey, our colleague 
of the far-off London days, met us on the quay, 
and no words can describe the kindness of these 
good friends in our trouble. 

Ihsan Bey insisted on our returning with him to 
his home on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. 
He advised us to remain there a certain time, as 
several formalities would have to be gone through 
with our passports, and the matter of a pension, 
before we should be allowed to leave for Germany. 

Ihsan Bey's father-in-law was the great Reouf 
Pacha, one of the heroes of Plevna. He received 
us seated in his garden, surrounded by numerous 
sons, and looking like a biblical patriarch. He 
said he was pleased that we were to be guests 
under his daughter's roof, and added that every- 
body would be kind to my son for his father's 




IHSAN BEY 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 217 

sake, as his lamented death had robbed so many 
of a friend. 

Ihsan Bey's residence stood in the heart of a 
large garden. It was the usual square Turkish 
house, the rooms leading out on either side from 
a large entrance-hall. I was shown into the 
harem, and my son taken to the selamlik, the 
portion of the house reserved for men. 

My hostess welcomed me with every demonstra- 
tion of kindness and sympathy in a large drawing- 
room, furnished in Parisian style, with light 
carpets and sofas and chairs upholstered in red 
and gold silk. She was a tall, beautiful woman, 
dressed in a loose tea-gown of yellow satin, with 
floating gauze veil falling from her luxuriant hair. 
She was Reouf Pacha's only daughter, and had 
been brought up according to the old-fashioned 
Turkish standards. Her father had not allowed 
her to be taught any foreign language, as he 
wished to prevent foreign literature, especially 
modern French novels, sowing the seeds of 
discontent in her mind. 

His policy had been evidently eminently success- 
ful. Madame Ihsan Bey seemed absolutely happy 
in her restricted life, where the sacred law of 
hospitality was practised in a degree unknown 
in other countries. 

She was surrounded by attendants, who, 
although ostensibly in the family for life, were 
by no means regarded as slaves, but who pre- 
ferred to remain in safety with their master and 
mistress. There were other visitors besides myself, 
among them the wife and daughter of a general 
who had died suddenly. They had arrived here 
a year previously with a petition for their pension, 
and were still awaiting the Sultan's answer. 



218 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Food was partaken of by the Turkish ladies 
whenever they desired to eat, and dishes were 
brought to them upon little trays. In the evening 
beds were made up for an}' visitors who wished 
to spend the night, by piling mattresses upon 
the floor and arranging them with cushions and 
coverings. 

My first night in the harem was a sleepless one. 
My bed had been made up in the corner of a large 
square room, and a mosquito curtain was im- 
provised over it by arranging white muslin round 
a child's wooden hoop suspended from the ceiling. 
The windows, inside lattices, opened up and 
down like English windows, and admitted sufficient 
air, while the sunshine filtered through the 
woodwork of the immovable lattices. 

Beyond the garden I could see wide sweeps of 
hill and sky, and stretches of the deep blue waters 
of the Bosphorus, upon which the caiques were 
plying to and fro. 

No one hurried in the calm leisure of this Turkish 
household, where silent serving-women glided 
about in their loose garments and felt shoes. 

All were touchingly kind and attentive, one of 
them brought me a bath full of rose-petals, which 
she insisted on rubbing in my hair and neck, as 
they were supposed to allay fatigue. 

When I stood alone at the latticed window of 
my bedroom, the evening breeze shook the 
graceful mimosa trees in the seraglio garden below, 
and the plaintive sound of a flute reached my ear, 
as a shepherd led his flocks home over the hills in 
the gathering shadows. 

As a foreigner, I was invited to have my meals 
at the large table in the dining-room, spread daily 
for the master of the house and an elastic number 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 219 

of guests. That hospitable board had rarely less 
than twelve or fourteen people seated round it. 
Upon the snowy damask tablecloth, four golden 
jugs were always filled with fresh water, the only 
drink ever served there. At intervals down the 
centre of the table, dishes of freshly-plucked 
fruit were arranged alternately with tall golden 
candelabra. All the courses were brought into 
the room before the guests took their places, 
and the various dishes were placed upon a low 
table, rather like an enormous tray on short legs, 
which stood in a corner of the room. 

This did not help to keep the dishes very hot, 
and there was a certain sameness of contents in 
the different courses. Delicious stews, one or 
two dishes of meat or chicken, then vegetables 
and rice in various forms, dried beans served with 
different sauces, stuffed cucumbers, tomatoes, 
and glutinous little comes grecques. 

Every da} 7 different visitors sat down to table 
— the number of guests was never known before- 
hand. One day they included the Turkish 
Consul from Cardiff, a naval officer, one or two 
Levantine ladies, and a poor friend of the host, 
who daily partook of all meals. 

Our stay under the hospitable roof of Ihsan 
Bey seemed likely to be more or less indefinite. 
I was terribly anxious to leave as soon as possible, 
and return to the spot where, but a few weeks 
previously, we had left my husband. But I was 
told that I ought to remain where I was until the 
question of my pension had been settled, and in 
order to expedite this, Reouf Pacha promised to 
see the Sultan personally on our behalf. 

This was no easy matter just then, as His 
Imperial Majesty was in a state of defiant 



220 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

mistrust of everybody, and the difficulties of a 
personal interview with him, alwaj^s a matter of 
uncertainty, had increased a thousandfold. 

The question of the throwing of the bomb, to 
which I have already referred, was keeping the 
whole of hi ; entourage in a state of ferment. 

He had ordered a minute search to be made of 
all the carriages of officials who had attended the 
Selamlik on that particular Friday, and the 
houses of all the private visitors. Ultimately, 
for what reason it is unknown, it was decided in 
the minds of those interested in the matter, that 
the bomb had been fabricated in Belgium. 

We were advised to see the Grand Vizier, 
Ferid Pacha, who had known and respected my 
husband, and who had expressed the wish to 
help us as much as he was able. 

One morning, my host, my son, and I drove 
down to the pier on the Bosphorus, crossed by 
caique to Beshik Tasch, and drove to Ferid 
Pacha's residence. 

We were conducted through a large conserva- 
tory full of blossoming white lilies, the flowers of 
which were inverted and bent earthward, through 
a long ante-room upholstered in blue and yellow 
silk, and into a drawing-room very European in 
scheme. 

After we had waited for a few minutes a door 
at the further end of the room opened, and a 
venerable figure in fez and stambouline entered, 
smiling kindly, and fumbling a chaplet of large 
white beads which he held in his hands. 

He addressed us in French, bade us be seated, 
and expressed regret at the tragedy which had 
overtaken us, saying that he had known intimately 
both my husband and Rustem Pacha. 



THL CALL OF THE EAST 221 

He talked of Berlin, of the preponderance of 
military influence there, and the appointment of 
Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, who was a good soldier. 

He asked how old my boy was, and when he 
heard he was just over seventeen, he said, with a 
charming smile : " Disons dix-huit " 

He questioned him regarding his knowledge of 
languages, the system of the studies he had made, 
and suggested that he should try and follow in 
the steps of his father. 

He showed us his own son's photograph, and 
said he was shortly going to Potsdam, to study 
German military tactics, as had so many of the 
sons of high officials in Turkey. He promised 
us that for six months at least we should be 
allowed to retain our flat in Berlin at the expense 
of the Government, while my son prepared for 
his examinations and decided what to do. 

A picturesque, turbaned attendant now entered 
and offered us Turkish coffee in minute gold cups, 
studded with precious stones. Another tray 
contained rose-leaf jam, with small glass plates 
and spoons, and glasses of fresh water. 

When we said good-bye, he shook hands most 
kindly with me, responded graciously to my son's 
temena, and assured us that he would use all his 
influence to expedite the matter of our pension, 
and that we should surely hear about it in a few 
days. 

Those few days dragged on to weeks of suspense, 
but I was assured by all my friends that every 
pension granted to foreigners, or the widows of 
foreigners who had been connected with the 
Turkish service, was always attended with great 
delay, and subject to endless intrigue. Several 
English ladies — for instance the widow of Admiral 



222 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Hobart Pacha — who were in the enjoyment of 
Turkish pensions that they were allowed to spend 
out of the country, had all found it a matter 
difficult of arrangement. 

Next morning we again visited the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, Tewfik Pacha, afterwards Am- 
bassador to London. He, too, was full of the 
kindest promises, and declared that his help and 
protection were ours, and it was a matter of 
wonderment to me that with all this influence at 
work on our behalf, matters were not arranged 
with more alacrit}^. 

On the evening of that day, feeling very dis- 
couraged and sceptical, I accompanied my hostess 
on a visit to her father, to tell him what was being 
done in Stamboul, as he himself was also doing 
his best to help us. 

He was a delightful Turk of the old school, 
dignified, suave, and very kind-hearted. He had 
lost one of his legs on the battle-field of Plevna, 
and a faithful attendant had brought home the 
leg for burial in the cemetery at Scutari. Here, it 
lay next to the grave of his daughter's only child, 
and two picturesque, ornate tombstones were 
inscribed in scarlet and gold, recounting the brief 
life of the one, and the doughty prowess of the 
other. Here, by the side of this memory shrine, 
the old Pacha spent many a peaceful hour smoking 
his chibouk, and meditating on the transitory 
glories of this world. 

If words and personal kindness could have 
been transformed into deeds, my son and I could, 
with a wave of the hand, have been transported 
to a life of security and ease, untrammelled by the 
anxieties for the future, which just now lay 
heavily upon us. As we talked together that 



THE CALL OF THE EAST 223 

evening through the medium of the interpreter- 
ship of one of his sons, Abdi Bey, whom we had 
known in Berlin, numbers of women slaves and 
pretty little dark-eyed children peeped at us 
through the harem door, behind which they were 
discussing us in audible whispers. 

Madame Ihsan Bey declared that the influence 
of women in Turkey was not the negligible 
quantity usually believed by Europeans. Most 
Turkish men had discarded the privilege of having 
four wives, and found the expenses and manage- 
ment of one woman helpmate quite sufficient. 
The influence of a wife upon her husband was in 
most cases very great, and my kind hostess 
suggested that we should visit together the wives 
of various powerful functionaries, who were her 
intimate friends. 

She told me that among the lower classes a 
plurality of wives was still frequent, as these 
women made little pretensions to luxury, and 
were content to be the handmaids of the lord of 
the harem. The first wife was always tenacious 
of a privilege accorded to her, which was that of 
carrying a bright blue parasol whenever the wives 
went out together. This azure-hued emblem of 
having been first in the field seemed to confer a 
certain proud consolation in the matter of sharing 
the husband's affection. I myself have seen the 
self-evident pleasure of the lady of the blue 
parasol. 

Harem life certainly had its charms, but the 
absence of physical exercise made it very enervat- 
ing. The claims of nature were respected to an 
extent which forbade the awakening of any 
sleeper. One was never called at any particular 
hour of the morning, the days had no fixed 



224 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

beginning, repose no fixed hour for ending. The 
personnel of the household regulated their work 
by the sun, which awoke me early every morning, 
when the household was still in the arms of 
Morpheus. 

This gave me a curious feeling, as if existence 
were suspended, and in abeyance, between a 
vivid past and a problematical future. 






CHAPTER XIV 

A TURKISH AFTERNOON CALL: FAREWELL TO 
THE HAREM 



T 



"MIE first visit we made was to the wife of 
the all-powerful First Secretary of the 
Sultan, Tahsin Pacha. In order to be 
able to accompany my hostess I was compelled 
to don Turkish dress, comprising the feridje (a 
sort of domino cloak) and yashmak. 

It was a blazing hot afternoon, when a little 
basket chaise, covered by a large French parasol 
and drawn by a meek-looking horse with a fiery- 
looking driver in Albanian dress on the box, drew 
up at the house. My hostess, carrying her little 
dog Budjek (insect), a tiny little Maltese terrier, 
sat beside me, and opposite sat Mademoiselle 
Olga, another of her visitors, who was to act as 
interpreter. 

The little carriage had no springs, and we jolted 
over uneven roads in such a state of discomfort 
that Mademoiselle Olga declared we should all get 
a emplacement des reins. At last we reached 
our destination, and were driven through, a 
beautiful garden on the brow of a hill to the harem 
entrance of the large square building which was 
the house of the Minister. 

We were shown into a small room, where two 
female attendants in flowing cotton garments 
entered into rapid conversation with Madame 

Q 225 



226 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Ihsan Bey. Judging by their gestures and looks, 
I was the chief topic of their mutual confidences. 
When these were exhausted, our cloaks and veils 
were taken from us and hung in the entrance-hall 
outside. 

Coffee was then brought, and after this 
portions of roasted maize with raspberry syrup. 
I was told that there were sixty female slaves, or 
attendants, in this establishment, all of them 
likely to remain with their master either for life 
or until they married, when, in the latter case, 
they received a pension. All I saw looked happy 
enough, and all of them were dressed in the same 
loose dressing-gown sort of garment, in some 
cases clasped in at the waist by a belt, which 
revealed palpably enough that there was no 
question of the wearing of corsets. 

When we had consumed our coffee and maize, 
the Pacha's only daughter appeared, and I was 
formally introduced to her by Mademoiselle Olga, 
who rapidly interpreted the little sentences of 
introduction. I was told she was the only child of 
the house, and all-powerful with her father, who 
simply adored her. 

We exchanged smiles and bows, and I noticed 
how small and delicate she looked, her tiny slight 
figure draped with a garment of stamped black 
and crimson velvet. Her large dark eyes, heavily 
fringed with lashes, looked too big for her little 
dark face. She was very vivacious, and spoke 
with a strong lisp in a sharp commanding voice. 

Looking at her, I imagined her to be about 
fifteen years old, but I was told she was nearly 
twenty, was married, and had a little baby-boy. 

The chief topic of her conversation was about 
baby's food, upon which I was questioned most 



A TURKISH HAREM 227 

minutely. 1 was asked to write down those which 
I considered the best and, not being very versed 
in these matters, I jotted down three or four, 
Mellin's Food and cornflour, figuring on the list. 
This was read aloud by the young mother, in the 
strangest accent and deep gravity. I was then 
questioned as to which I considered the best, and 
realising that in all probability it would be difficult 
for her to get supplies of any of them, I said they 
were all one as good as the other. 

Although it was early in the afternoon, the 
stamped velvet dress, which was evidently made 
in Paris, was cut very low in the neck, and a huge 
diamond crescent, the largest I have ever seen, 
was pinned in the front of the corsage. 

After an interval of three-quarters of an hour, 
the Minister's wife appeared. She was the reverse 
of prepossessing, although the kindness d" her 
smile did much to redeem the want of beauty and 
symmetry in a face which most people would 
have pronounced frankly ugly. She had lost 
three front teeth, which were not replaced by 
false ones, her grey hair was combed tightly back 
from the face and screwed into a little onion on 
the crown of her head. She wore a loose black 
and white stamped velvet gown, held together 
at the neck by an enormous diamond brooch, 
beneath which hung a pendant surrounded by 
brilliants, and which she assured us contained a 
picture of her husband. This had been allowed 
as a great concession to prejudice, and proved her 
powerful influence over him. In her ears were 
enormous solitaire diamond ear-rings, rings of 
inestimable value adorned the fingers of both 
hands. 

After the usual introduction, she sat on a divan 



228 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

near the window and beckoned to me to sit beside 
her. She expressed her sympathy with me, and 
promised that her husband would certainly assist 
us in the arrangement of our affairs. More coffee 
and cigarettes were brought, and then a large 
bowl of uncut precious stones was brought in for 
us to look at. 

Madame Tahsin Pacha was the daughter of a 
great Circassian noble, who had given her as a 
marriage dowry a basketful of unmounted 
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and pearls. " That 
was a long time ago," she assured us with a smile, 
and this bowlful was now all that remained. Most 
people would have been quite satisfied with half 
the contents, which must have been worth 
enormous sums of money. 

Our drive back in the cool of the evening was 
very pleasant, and whether it was because we 
were rested and refreshed, and there was a cool 
breeze, the little carriage seemed to jolt far less 
on the homeward journey. By the roadsides 
Turkish gravestones stood at all imaginable 
angles, and seemed to indicate a most promiscuous 
manner of burying the dead. Quite close to the 
pathway stood shrines, some of them surrounded 
by gratings and railings, upon which hung lanterns, 
now twinkling with light as the rapid twilight fell. 

When we reached home, Ihsan Bey told me he 
had utilised the day by trying to get our pass- 
ports in order, in case we wanted to return to 
Europe before the question of our pension was 
arranged. 

I foresaw that this would probably be the case, 
unless we wished to become part of the army of 
indefinitely waiting visitors which crowded under 
this hospitable roof. 



A TURKISH HAREM 229 

That evening as I was seated in the drawing- 
room with my hostess, at whose feet crouched 
three or four women attendants, while others 
stood or sat about in various positions, my son 
was allowed to come in to say good-night. Our 
beautiful fair hostess quickly drew the veil over 
her luxuriant hair, which never must be visible to 
the eyes of any male except her husband. Her 
eyes rilled with tears in sheer sympathy, and 
although the want of a common language pre- 
vented us from conversing directly, we under- 
stood each other in that great and universal 
language of the heart. 

In one of the harems where there was more than 
one wife I noticed that great affection existed 
between the powerful first wife, who represented 
authority and dignity, and the younger ones who 
deferred to her opinion. 

One afternoon the Valide Hanoum, who 
noticed that Nessoun the youngest favourite was 
sad, summoned distraction in the person of the 
Miradju, or professional story-teller. 

The two women preceded me to a large room 
where rows of slaves in flowing garments stood 
against the walls, silent and attentive. At a 
gesture from the Valide they came forward and 
grouped themselves in semicircle behind their 
mistresses, facing a cloaked, mysterious-looking 
woman who sat on a cushion in the middle of the 
floor. 

I listened attentively, and as she spoke her 
story was translated to me thus : 

" Good evening most honourable company," 
began the professional story-teller, salaaming with 
the graceful ten ana, touching with her finger-tips 
floor, breast, and lips, j 



230 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

The listeners returned her salutation, and the 
woman began : 

" Tis a tale of sadness I bring you this day-end, 
one whispered to me by the Ev-Sahib the djinn." 

At the mention of the dark spirit the girls 
shuddered and drew nearer together as the 
Miradju quoted : 

" In the Seven-Hilled City, which has lately 
been so full of unrest, we are turning Life's 
Picture-Book very fast. My tale is of the lovely 
Mihirmah, the. wife of Selim the Wonderful. She 
was weeping for her lord, who was sweeping the 
earth clear of infidels many leagues away.| Love's 
tyrannical hand was tearing at her heart, and 
jealous pain entered therein. She had promised 
him not to stir beyond the garden walls until he 
returned, but her heart had travelled with him, 
and had come back to whisper that a Frank 
woman had captured the glorious Selim's fane}' — 
and followed him, making him forgetful of his 
true wife. Then Mihirmah wept and wept, 
forgetting that some love depends so much on 
one's bod} r . When a man loves a woman he does 
not care whether she is good or bad, whether she 
will be friend or companion, he simply wants her, 
and often tires. At last Mihirmah fell asleep. In 
Dreamland she wandered many thousand miles 
until she reached a vast, dreary plain. The 
moonlight lay over heaps of dead and dying, 
huge guns, rivers of blood. Shuddering with 
horror, Mihirmah picked her way among the stark 
figures, until she reached one that was lying 
against a cannon, and looking up with straining 
gaze at the clouded sky. Near him lay a dead 
woman, but he heeded her not. He strained out 
to the little figure tripping over the dreadful field. 



A TURKISH HAREM 231 

"'Little Jasmine, little almond flower,' whis- 
pered the stiffening lips, as Mihirmah bent down 
and placed her arms round his neck, kissing him 
and murmuring gentle words. 

" ' Come forth with me, my beloved,' she 
whispered. ' The pines by the blue Bosphorus 
call us. We have travelled the long road of 
sorrow, but Allah has shown us his face and peace 
is with us. Happiness is only found in giving, 
and I give you my loving heart. 

"Next day the comrades found Selim the 
Invincible asleep, with such a smile of peace upon 
his face that they halted and bowed before some- 
thing great, unfathomable, mysterious, Kismet. 

" But in the corner of the Seraglio Garden, 
where the pine trees stand sentinel, Mihirmah was 
lying dead." 

A wild cry rent the air, and interrupted the 
Miradju's story. 

Nessoun was on her feet trembling and weeping. 

" 'Tis of my lord you speak, I know it, I know 
it," she wailed. 

"Hush," said the story-teller, rising. Her pale 
face was illuminated with inner fire. Her fingers 
pointed, her eyes were those of a seer. 

" I see a speck of dust on the hill-tops, I see a 
moving dark cloud like hurrying people, I see 
blood The future is dark " 

Nessoun was led weeping from the room, and I 
was under the impression the Valide Hanoum 
made excuses for an over-imaginative tempera- 
ment with charming gestures of deprecation. 

As I left the house, the chanted prayer of the 
Muezzin floated from the summit of the minarets : 
" May Allah guard the Living and help the Dead." 

One morning a friend took us to see some 



232 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

underground ruins — supposed to have been used 
formerly as Byzantine cisterns — and which lay 
beneath and beyond an old Turkish house near 
the bazaar quarter. 

In response to a discreet knock by our guide 
at a father dismal-looking house, the door was 
opened just wide enough to admit of our entering 
a narrow passage in single file. 

When the door was closed and barred, the 
owner of the house held a rapid conversation with 
our guide, and lit a torch to illuminate a very 
dark, tortuous staircase, which seemed to my 
apprehensive gaze to lead to a bottomless pit. 

The torch was waved encouragingly, and " Come 
on — come on " repeated insinuatingly in Turkish. 

As I couldn't go back, I did " Come on," and 
bade my son keep close to me. until we got out of 
the house again. We reached a sort of cellar with 
a floor of damp earth, and walls only on three 
sides. Facing us I saw the sheen of dark murky 
water, glistening in the light of the torch. 

"Where does the water lead to ? " I asked our 
guide. 

" Who knows ! " he replied with characteristic 
upward movement of the head. " Many inquisi- 
tive people have insisted on embarking in yonder 
boat — but none of them ever came back to tell the 
tale." 

I glanced in the direction of the pointed torch, 
and saw a little boat chained to a staple in the 
wall, and moving up and down with heavy, 
sluggish motion, as if the depths of the water 
were stirred by under-currents. 

Then the torch was lifted, and swept in semi- 
circle to reveal rows of tall arches and pillars 
reaching to a lofty roof glistening with slime. 



A TURKISH HAREM 233 

Innumerable bats, disturbed by the light, flapped 
to and fro. The arches stretched awa}^ seemingly 
to infinity, and beneath them the brown water 
flowed sluggishly, a moving floor to the dim 
aisles. 

" Where can it lead to ? " I whispered. 

" To the sea probably," said my guide. " In 
the Byzantine days provisions were most likely 
conveyed here — or assignations made ! Who 
knows." 

" Or inconvenient people got rid of," added my 
son. " Come on, mother — let us get out of this ! " 

He spoke sharply to the guide in Turkish, who 
in turn commanded the torch-bearer, and we 
mounted the cellar steps. 

Even in the blazing sunlight outside the im- 
pression of that dreadful place followed me, and 
often in nightmares I see it again. 

I fretted at the delay in procuring our pass- 
ports, and getting them vises. At any price I 
wanted to get back to Europe. 

I should never be able to feel at home in 
surroundings so different from all I had ever 
known. 

At last they were in order. The delay had been 
due to the fact that my husband's French nation- 
ality had to be proved, and various documents 
unearthed before the regulation of the papers, as 
I was leaving Turkey in a different capacity from 
that mentioned on my Berlin passport. They 
evidently considered there was a vast difference in 
the status of an official's wife and his widow. 

Our kind host had also managed o procure a 
portion of the long arrears of salary due to my 
husband, and handed me a little bag containing 
a hundred pounds in English gold. 



234 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

At the end of August we crossed the Bosphorus 
and boarded the Costanza boat. The Black Sea 
was very rough, and my son and I felt very un- 
comfortable, I the more so as I had twisted my 
ankle the day before. A Turkish doctor had been 
called in and he prayed over it, pulled at it, and 
finally bound it up, taking the bandage as high as 
the knee, while bidding me not disturb it for 
several days. 

When we reached Bucharest, our friends could 
not do enough to show their sympathy, and to do 
what they could to help us on our sad homeward 
journey. My hostess got the heavy English gold 
exchanged for German banknotes, which would 
be easier to carry, and insisted on our remaining 
with her at least one night. I acquiesced in this, 
although I was so anxious to get to our destination 
as quickly as possible. On our way to her house 
we passed a Roumanian funeral cortege, the sight 
of which thoroughly unnerved me. The body of a 
young girl, dressed in white, lay uncovered on a 
stretcher carried by six bearers, and preceded by 
Greek priests in their robes, chanting hymns for 
the dead. 

We reached Munich via Orsova, Buda Pesth, 
and Vienna. 

The days spent in Munich and Kainzenbad were 
filled with the saddest of all sad offices, known 
only to those whose dear ones have died away 
from home, and in unpacking personal belongings, 
each of which tells its tale to an aching heart. 

Our doctor at Kainzenbad was very indignant at 
Turkish methods of surgery, for after undoing my 
bandages, he declared that if I had kept them on 
much longer I should probably have been com- 
pelled to have had my leg amputated at the knee. 



A TURKISH HAREM 235 

He ordered massage and cold bandages, but it 
was many months before I was able to walk with 
any amount of comfort. 

We found endless letters awaiting us, most of 
which had to be answered, as they were connected 
with the necessary formalities required before 
the final resting-place of my husband could be 
decided. 

Letters from our many friends had to remain 
unanswered until after our return to Berlin. 

The beautiful Bavarian valley was empty of 
tourists, and the vivid moonlight nights, amid 
the snow-capped mountains, seemed filled with a 
stern, forbidding kind of peace, and to hold us 
in bonds it would be impossible to break. 

I was astonished at the artistic power of the 
musicians who officiated at the requiem mass 
held for my husband in the church at Parten- 
kirchen. The music-loving people were not 
content with superficial knowledge, but studied 
with a completeness one seldom found in great 
cities. 

I was loath to return to Berlin, as this beautiful 
spot held for us both the last link with happy days. 
But at length we had to tear ourselves away, and 
journey to our empty home and a changed 
existence. 

For a year and a half following our bereavement 
we remained in Berlin, where my son completed 
his course of studies, upon which would depend 
definite plans for the future. 

My sole interest now lay in the development of a 
useful and happy life for him. The curious 
circumstances of the past made this a matter of 
deep reflection. 

The feverish winter activities of Berlin life went 



236 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

on as usual, but seemed to me as remote as a 
dream. 

The Turkish Embassy was still under the 
regime of Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, who had removed 
to a new house in fhe Chariot tenburg district. 

He and his wife had identified themselves almost 
entirely with the military set. The Ambassador 
mixed little with the official world in his private 
life. As his wife lived more or less in seclusion, 
devoting herself to the care of her two little girls, 
she never appeared at any of the official dinners 
which took place at the Embassy. 

On one or two occasions the wives of generals 
who assisted at these functions asked to be 
allowed to visit her in her private apartments. 
More often than not this was evaded, as she 
resented her inability to play the role of hostess 
in the usually accepted form. 

They were both very kind to us, though we 
never pierced the barrier of nationality and 
prejudice which divided us in almost every point 
of view. 

Ahmed Tewfik occupied himself a great deal 
with painting, and was a very good amateur 
artist. 

He worked with the painter Rabes, who was 
famous for his pictures of the East, and with 
Anton von Werner, another great artist, whose 
house, presided over by his clever daughters, was 
an attractive centre for the intellectual and 
artistic celebrities of Berlin. 

In 1907, my son was offered the post of attache* 
to the Embassy in London. 

It was a great chance for a young man to be 
able to begin in the greatest city in the world, 
and even if eventually he did not remain in the 




MY SOX WHEN ATTACHE TO THE TURKISH EMBASSY IN I907 — 1912 



A TURKISH HAREM 237 

career, it would certainly mean graduating in the 
school of life — and gaining interesting experience. 
The post would leave him enough leisure to con- 
tinue his course of studies in England, and above 
all, would give him the best of opportunities of 
learning to know the land of his birth and of 
my own. 



CHAPTER XV 

RETURN TO LONDON 

ONCE more our household goods were 
packed in vans suitable for oversea 
transport, and destined to remain in 
them until a new home in London could receive 
them. 

While the Berlin flat was being dismantled, 
snow lay almost knee-deep in the beautiful Tier- 
garten outside, and fell in large flakes all day long. 
Another episode was closing ; good-byes were 
spoken to dear friends, familiar haunts were 
looked at with eyes of farewell, while winged 
blessings gained more and more in value. Mile- 
stones on the road of life are hardly ever erected 
without a pang. 

Before going back to England we were to spend 
a fortnight in Munich, where Princess Racowitza 
insisted on our staying under her roof. She had 
begun her occult and musical afternoon receptions, 
which twice a week during the winter attracted 
many interesting people to the little flat. For 
the former she always prepared a lecture on higher 
thought or occult doctrine, which she read to her 
guests and invited discussion. She said that 
during her long life, which many people would 
judge as far from blameless, she had never lost a 
friend. The guiding thought of her existence was 

238 



RETURN TO LONDON 239 

love of Truth, which she upheld in any and every 
circumstance with intrepid courage. 

"It was not always wise, nor diplomatic," 
she said, " to answer truthfully awkward questions, 
but I could not endure to walk about with myself, 
knowing that I wilfully imparted wrong impres- 
sions of either myself or my doings. Even if my 
husband asked me if I would be faithful to him 
during absence, I always replied, ' Yes, for a 
fortnight,' and he appreciated my frankness, and 
did not put me to the test. He knew that I was 
unable to prevaricate, and that I was a stormy 
petrel." 

" We are not masters of our Destiny," she 
would say, after reading a lecture on the invisible 
forces. " The elements of which we are all com- 
pounded are stirred up differently according to our 
surrounding influences. We can modify them, 
hold them in subjection, but never really change 
them. 

" Wise are those who study themselves and 
their limitations, and then commit themselves to 
the guidance of invisible helpers. One should try 
to feel like children in God's nursery, and obey the 
guiding spirit of it, even if one cannot always 
understand why, any more than one understood 
a chastising nurse." 

She herself had a spirit-guide with whom she 
held converse, and she told us with sincere con- 
viction that the most foolish as well as the most 
dreadful end to any human life was that of 
suicide. 

" We cannot end it ourselves," she said. " If we 
try to, we expiate in the Beyond, until our allotted 
span is over. Nothing in life happens accidentally. 
We are always led, even by seemingly interminable 



240 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

d Hours to an allotted goal. — Even our friends are 
picked out and destined to meet us, either for 
mutual help or mutual punishment. — I never 
really trouble about mundane things, although I 
hate being uncomfortable, or cold, or poor. It ail 
passes so quickly," she added, with her brilliant 
smile. 

There was a very interesting oil painting of 
herself in the flat by an artist named Parin, who 
regularly attended both her occult and her 
musical afternoons. He painted a great deal 
under occult influence. He told me that often 
when he went back to his studio in the small 
hours he was impelled to " light a lamp giving 
but a dim glow, and to sit patiently in front of his 
easel until he was ' moved ' to paint." 

" My hand picks out the colours automatically," 
he said, " and I never know when I sit down 
what will prove the subject of my picture. Some- 
times it is an Eastern city, or some desert jungle 
which, in this incarnation, I have never seen. 
Sometimes a lovely woman's face comes to 
me, framed in diaphanous folds of muslin, or 
floating in indigo clouds. Sometimes it is my 
' guide ' with venerable face and sad, mystical 
eyes." 

" In those hours, when my brush moves so 
rapidly, I never know fatigue. I am as if upheld, 
refreshed, stimulated by unseen beings who 
guide my hand ! " 

I do v not know what has become of him, but I 
often think of his interesting personality and 
lovely pictures. 

At the musical afternoons Count Schonborn 
and Count Lippe were often guests, and remained 
on to the evening meal. Count Schonborn com- 



RETURN TO LONDON 241 

posed and sang charming songs, one of which, 
" Snow Kisses," was particularly melodious. He 
was a very clever cook, and loved to dress up in 
chef's cap and apron and prepare the evening 
meal. 

What gaiety and laughter then ! What succu- 
lent dishes appeared by magic in the little dining- 
room, while the " chef " dashed to an fro with 
this or that plat ! 

Where do happy days go to — when borne so 
swiftly on wings of a fleeting Present ? 

Helene was always interesting when one could 
get her to talk about Love, which was not often. 
Like many women who have had vast experiences, 
she did not like to talk about them. 

" We are up against a great force none of us 
understand," she would say, " and all that the 
poets and sages have written of La Grande Passion 
only amount to comparatively few personal 
experiences or ideas. It amuses me to hear 
people talk of fidelity or infidelity, of woman's 
capacity or incapacity of inspiring and keeping 
man's love. Eros always has wings. We may 
clip them, but they will always grow again. One 
should live the moment, fully and gratefully. 
That is happiness ! Man's fidelity ? " she con- 
tinued, " I shouldn't mind in the least if Serge 
had a few ' fancies ' ; better for them to be 
gratified and fly away than for them to addle his 
brain with ideas of illusive happiness which might 
possibly be found away, from me. I know he 
loves me, but nobody can really fill up every 
crevice of polygamous man's emotional life, and 
he will always return to me, because I have made 
myself necessary to his existence." 

She had two little love-birds, Romeo and 



242 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

Juliet, and when Romeo pecked Juliet to death, 
in a fit of jealous rage, she felt sure that he would 
soon die of grief. 

But he did nothing of the kind — indeed he 
outlived his poor, dear mistress, who, in a fit of 
despair at her husband's death, ended her own 
life in spite of all her theories. Like so many of 
us, we find it too hard to carry out our most 
intimate convictions when anguish blinds our 
inner vision. 

When the day of our departure arrived I was 
absolutely dumbfounded to find that a sort of 
wedding chariot had been ordered to take us to 
the station. It was padded inside with quilted 
blue satin and drawn by a pair of greys. When I 
expostulated at the extravagance, the dear woman 
answered : 

" You must keep your last memories of the 
Fatherland in azure clouds like this lining, and 
whenever the time comes that may darken your 
reminiscences, try and think in blue — the colour 
of devotion." 

It was still very cold although it was March. 
I was wrapped in furs, and as the train left Munich 
I saw that the banks on either side were heaped 
and covered with snow. As we rushed past them, 
I thought of Mrs. Clarke's predictions when the 
"tea-leaf Sybil" told my future in the tea-cup at 
Ashburn Place. 

Of course, I was going back to England ! I was 
following my star. Whither would it lead me and 
my dear one ? 

We arrived in London in the spring of that 
year, 1907. We took a little house in Devonshire 
Street, near the Embassy, which had been 
removed to Portland Place. Etienne Musurus 



RETURN TO LONDON 243 

Pacha was my son's first Chief, and had asked at 
head-quarters for his appointment. 

He initiated him into the not very arduous 
duties of his post, assuring him that he would have 
ample time to continue his studies if he wished to 
do so. He presented him to King Edward at the 
first levee, and took him to most of the Court 
functions. 

Madame Musurus, daughter of Sir John Anto- 
niadi, proved a kind friend to us both. She 
presented me at one of the early Drawing Rooms, 
which now took place in the evening. By an act 
of courtesy which certainly would not have taken 
place in Berlin, I was given a seat on the diplo- 
matic estrade, and henceforth my son and I 
attended official functions together. 

There was no waiting now in the embrasure of 
the window ; the Courts were on the lines of 
evening-parties in the old days. Much water had 
flown under bridges since I had last been at the 
Palace, and ghosts seemed to peep out at me from 
every corner. 

In conversation with Madame Musurus she told 
me that no women were now allowed to help in 
any official work, not even to cypher a telegram, 
or mix in the political affairs of the Porte. 

" You knew something about it all in the long 
ago," she said laughingly. 

" I did indeed," I replied, " and can assure you 
that the little I did was for the sake of helping my 
husband, and not from undue curiosity regarding 
the affairs of the Empire. It was no sinecure 
anyhow, and I am glad it is all over." 

The Embassy seemed steeped in an atmosphere 
of armed neutrality. Secret animosities of race and 
creed were far more pronounced than in former 



244 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

years. There were no important questions on the 
tapis similar to those of the Armenian atrocities 
and the evacuation of Egypt, but the workings of 
the Young Turk Party were giving rise to situa- 
tions troublesome to handle, especially by a 
Christian Ambassador, and a revulsion of feehng 
regarding foreigners in the Ottoman Service had 
already taken place. Finances were in a vety 
involved condition, and salaries very irregularly 
paid. 

My son gained the approval of his Chief, and 
the friendship of the Embassy staff, but, although 
the Order of the Medjidieh was later on bestowed 
upon him in recognition of his services, I soon 
realised that he would have little or no chance of 
eventual progress if he attempted to follow his 
father's career. No matter how great his capacity 
and goodwill, he would surely be shipwrecked in 
the sea of ever-growing racial prejudice. Thus the 
first few years of our return to London were full 
of preoccupation and anxiety. We hardly knew 
what to do for the best. 

Our first London season under the auspices of 
Musurus Pacha was destined to be the last with 
that kind Chief, for he died less than a year after 
our arrival, as the result of a most trivial accident. 
He wa:; stooping to pick up a cigarette which had 
fallen on the slippery parquet floor of the drawing- 
room, which, by the way, he was anxious to have 
redecorated at the expense of the Turkish Govern- 
ment, when he slipped and fell so heavily that he 
broke his knee-cap. He was attended by a good 
doctor and nurses, but was allowed to get up too 
soon, as he was anxious to attend Court on the 
occasion of an expected visit of the German 
Emperor to London. 



RETURN TO LONDON 245 

During his first attempt to walk again he fell a 
second time, so unfortunately, that the knee was 
fractured even more severely. 

He went to bed again and was destined never to 
recover, for to the despair of his wife he passed 
away just before the Christmas of 1907. 

A funeral service was held in the Greek Church 
in Moscow Road, previous to the body being taken 
to Constantinople. 

Strange to say, my son was again destined to 
carry the cushion containing a dead Ambassador's 
decorations. 

Within the church the ceremony was most 
impressive. In the centre of the building in front 
of the " Royal doors," was the purple draped 
catafalque, oblong in shape, and raised a few feet 
above the floor. The space all round it was 
covered with purple drapery, lit by the many 
candles placed within a mammoth crystal Greek 
cross, suspended from the ceiling. The mournful 
chants, unaccompanied by music, preceded the 
impressive part of the service known as the last 
" kiss." A sacred emblem was placed upon the 
cofhn, and this, and the coffin itself, were reverently 
kissed by all the mourners. In the Greek Church 
abroad, this last kiss in the church is bestowed 
upon the forehead of the dead, the coffin being 
left open for that purpose. 

The pathetic stanzas accompanying these last 
rites contained the words : 

" Come brethren, let us give the last kiss to the 
dead, and render thanks to God ; for he hath left 
his kinsfolk and hasteneth to the grave ; to him 
there is no care concerning vanities and toil. 
Where now are kinsfolk, and where friends ? 
gazing on him that lieth dead. Oh ! take we all 



246 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

a likeness of our final hour, for he has passed as a 
vapour from the earth, leaving him unseen. Let 
us pray Christ to give him everlasting rest." 

" A glory " led up to the following supposed 
appeal of the departed : 

" Me, lying voiceless and deprived of breath, 
beholding, bewail ye me, O brethren and O friends, 
O kinsfolk and acquaintances ; for yesterday I 
spake with you, and suddenly on me came the 
dread hour of death. 

" But come ye all that love me, and kiss me 
with the final kiss ; for never shall I go with you 
again. I depart unto the Judge, where is no 
respect of persons, where slave and lord together 
stand, the King and warrior, rich and poor, in 
equal worthiness ; for each according to his deeds 
is glorified or shamed. But I beg all, and all 
entreat unceasingly to pray Christ God for me, 
that, for my sins I be not bidden unto torment's 
place, but that he may appoint my lot where is 
the Light of Life." 

It seemed a sad and ominous commencement 
for our new existence in London. Musurus Pacha 
was the last Christian Ambassador who ruled at 
the Ottoman Embassy here, where, for the long 
period of nearly sixty years its head had always 
been a Christian, and a member of either the 
Greek Orthodox or the Roman Catholic Church. 

Many names were discussed as to Musurus 
Pacha's possible successor, among them that of 
Hamid Bey, who had been a prominent member 
of the personnel in London for over twenty 
years. 

The choice, however, eventually fell upon 
Rifaat Bey, then Turkish Minister at Athens. At 
one time he was Turkish Consul-General at 



. 



,. 




ETIENNK MUSURUS PACHA, THE LAST CHRISTIAN TURKISH AMBASSADOR 
TO THE COURT OF ST. JAMES'S 



RETURN TO LONDON 247 

Odessa, and while there he met and married his 
Russian wife, daughter of General de Riesenkamp. 

Rifaat Bey, afterwards Rifaat Pacha, was a 
Mahomedan Turk belonging to the more advanced 
and progressive school of thought. He was for 
a time Councillor of Embassy in Berlin and 
exchanged posts with my husband, when he 
came to London under Costaki Anthopoulos Pacha, 
who was appointed here on the death of Rust em. 

Shortly after their arrival a Government grant 
was made for the renovation and redecoration of 
the Embassy. The Ambassadress, who had 
excellent taste, superintended personally the plans 
of a great Parisian firm, and the last touches were 
being put to the vast reception-rooms on the first 
floor when the Ambassador was suddenly recalled 
to Constantinople. 

As a result of the establishment of Consti- 
tutional Government in Turkey, and the depo- 
sition of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, there was a 
shuffling of diplomatic cards, and able men were 
moved about to deal with the all-important 
questions of the moment. 

So much has been written and read about these 
national upheavals, which burst like a bomb- 
shell over Europe, that it would be superfluous to 
touch upon them here. 

On February 19th, 1909, less than a year af,ter 
his nomination, Rifaat Pacha was received in 
private audience by King Edward to deliver his 
letters of recall The Councillor, Djevad Bey, and 
my son accompanied him on this occasion. He 
was made Foreign Minister on his return to head- 
quarters after an official tour through Europe. 
During his short term of office he had been 
involved in the most startling political events. 



248 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

The London Embassy, which had become pro- 
verbial for the very few changes made in its chiefs, 
was again face to face with the problem of a new 
Ambassador. 

Just before his departure there were pour- 
parlers about a present King Edward was making 
to the new Sultan Mahomed V. 

The Sultan, who attended the Selamlik in an 
open or closed carriage, was asked whether he 
would deign to attend the ceremony sometimes on 
horseback. 

He replied in the affirmative, provided that a 
bay horse could be found with three white spots 
on his feet, one on each hind foot and one on a fore 
foot, a white spot between the eyes, and a tail 
reaching to the ground. 

Most of the Ambassadors to the Porte tried to 
induce their Governments to find a horse similar 
to the one described. King Edward sent sixty 
telegrams to enquire at the best studs if such a 
beast were procurable. 

It seemed like a miracle that its prototype was 
really found in Dublin, in Lord Ribblesdale's stud. 
It was bought and sent as a royal gift to the new 
Sultan of Turkey. 

Before the charger was shipped, he was trained 
in London to surprises and unexpected noises, in 
order that he might not shy at the cheers and 
vociferations of the Turkish populace. School- 
children dashed about waving banners in front 
of the animal, drums and trumpet-calls astonished 
the poor beast at all sorts of unexpected times, 
until he was " seasoned " enough to be sent away. 
He was named Rex Imperator, and was much 
admired and petted by his new master. 

Indeed he proved meek enough when first 



RETURN TO LONDON 249 

ridden in a sort of trial trip by one of the Adjutants, 
who was told afterwards that he ought to have 
made the animal show more spirit first, in order to 
duly impress the populace when he carried his 
Imperial owner. 

Before Madame Rifaat left England I visited 
some hospitals and workhouses with her, as she 
intended to try and reform such institutions in 
Constantinople when she returned there. We 
went over the Workhouse in Marloes Road, 
Kensington, and epitomised the salient points of 
organisation there. It was she who inaugurated 
the Society of the Red Crescent, which did such 
good work during the War. 



CHAPTER XVI 

VAGARIES OF SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 

MY son and I went about a great deal 
together, as it interested us to note the 
differences or similarities of social life 
in Berlin and London, and it amused us to com- 
pare notes in midnight chats, so different from those 
of the old days. He was invited to innumerable 
balls in the invitations sent to the Embassy staff 
— the fact of personal acquaintance with the men 
being evidently a matter little taken into con- 
sideration by a great many hostesses. 

People seemed to entertain less and less in their 
own houses, and the personal note was entirely 
wanting in the huge assemblies that were gathered 
together in large hotels or dismal empty mansions 
hired for the occasion. The latter — decorated 
with weary-looking bunting — were either cold 
and draughty, as all empty houses are, or over- 
heated, with no discrimination whatever. Ser- 
vants were engaged for the evening, and the 
entertainments were overcrowded in spite of all 
the attendant discomfort. As for the supper- 
rooms, provisions were provided with a view to 
quantity versus quality. Voracious appetites 
were catered for, judging by the patience of people 
waiting in different relays in queues outside the 
doors, and their frantic efforts to be borne in when 

250 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 251 

these were thrown open. One could imagine that 
food was the main attraction of the evening. 

One night we went on from a reception at 
Stafford House to a ball given in a hired mansion 
by a newly married peeress. The contrast was 
indeed most marked. 

The Duchess of Sutherland had invited tout 
Londres to meet the Foreign Delegates then in 
town, and received everyone with her own con- 
summate grace and charm. One felt that the 
beautiful hostess knew and welcomed her guests 
individually, and that it was a privilege to have 
been invited there. 

We were sorry to have left early, when later on 
we struggled upstairs, wedged closely in a mass of 
perspiring humanity that was surging upwards 
to greet a hostess who, in issuing her invitations, 
had sent out unlimited numbers of blank cards 
to be filled in for the " friends of her friends." 
She could not have known a tenth part of the 
people with whom she shook hands. 

In the ballroom the actual space left for the 
dancers was not much larger than a boxing ring. 
My son looked on with cynical amusement at the 
efforts of the courageous couples who gyrated 
round and round in that narrow circle, surrounded 
by a crowd one felt was absolutely a solid mass 
of flesh. 

Over-tired chaperones occupied the single row 
of seats placed against the wall, and discussed 
the fact that in the near future their duties would 
evidently be dispensed with if hostesses continued 
to encourage the ultra-modern girl to appear 
without " encumbrancer." 

This particular ball, which has remained as 
typical of the period in my memory, was in a way, 



252 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

tragic, as the host soon afterwards lost his fortune, 
and this first ball proved to be the last he gave. 

The question of paid chaperones, which was 
openly discussed by impecunious Society women 
anxious to gain the wherewithal to regild their 
family escutcheon, could be regarded purely as a 
channel for providing introductions to heavily 
paying guests, and not in any way hampering 
their movements. It seemed to be taken for 
granted that people were ever readjr and anxious 
to assist them in this money-making profession, 
and to include as a matter of course the " paying 
guest " in all the invitations issued to themselves. 
When this was not done, the " chaperone " 
either asked for one, or dispensed with it. One 
or two well-known women carried the business of 
social promotion to the extent of finding out new 
hostesses on the social horizon, and writing to 
offer them social success in their new venture by 
appearing at the ball and bringing titled friends 
with them " for a consideration." 

I saw a letter written by a peeress to a foreigner 
who was arranging a ball during the Coronation 
season, which ran thus : 

" Dear Madam, — 

I hear that you are giving a ball in town on 
the tenth of next month. You are no doubt 
anxious that it shall be a success. I write to offer 
to come to it, and to bring titled friends with me 
at ten pounds each. The money transactions are 
of course a confidential matter. 

Please let me know how many people you would 
like me to bring/' 

The icily worded reply refused the offer, saying 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 253 

that the hostess was accustomed to invite her 
own friends. 

Anxious mothers with young daughters about 
to be launched into the cosmopolis of London 
Society, realised the dangers lurking there for 
unsophisticated maidens, yet were unable to 
disguise the fact that a really nice girl, who relied 
on her chaperone, and waited for men to take the 
initiative in the ballroom, often sat about like a 
fresh little wallflower during her first season. So 
many young men were spoiled now by the advances 
and attentions of the ultra-modern girl, that they 
gave themselves no trouble at all in selecting 
partners. 

Then again, as hostesses frequently hardly 
knew half their guests, the " unbidden one " was 
often on the scenes, mixing unchallenged in the 
motley crowd. 

He was always well dressed, as are most adven- 
turers, always ingratiating, and he often found a 
London ballroom a happy hunting-ground. 

A foreign penniless alien aristocrat frankly 
admitted that his title, which was of little use to 
him in his own country, where they abounded in 
proportion to the number of sons in a family, 
was the means of most pleasant and lucrative 
" business " in London. 

The stock-in-trade of such men consisted of 
good looks, faultless clothes, and sleight of 
tongue. 

His " clients " numbered lonely women, often 
rich widows, who were willing to pay well for his 
accompanying them to parties, provided he 
devoted himself to looking after them, and 
introducing them to his friends. He must also be 
willing to be at their beck and call by telephone 



254 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

or telegram, during idle hours, and respond with 
alacrity. 

Sometimes all this culminated in marriage, but 
more often than not the " cavalier," whose 
business it was to exist elegantly, preferred 
" mnning " several clients at a time, and cleverly 
managing all of them. He usually led a life of 
luxury and ease at one of the best hotels, gave 
his Embassy a wide berth, and cultivated to a 
fine art the habit of silence and secretiveness about 
his mode of life. 

The " unbidden guest " was not always of the 
male species. A well-known woman who thought 
it a positive tragedy not to be invited to most of 
the prominent social functions, went so often 
with impunity without being invited, that it was 
rumoured she had lost her head to the extent of 
appearing at one of the crowded Court balls 
without having been " commanded." 

Later on guests were told to take the invitation 
card with them there, so such a thing could not 
happen now. 

The underground ballroom at the Ritz was 
seldom empty during the season. It was perhaps 
the most attractive place a hostess could choose 
if she did not wish to use her own house. 

Madame de Bittencourt, one of the most 
stately and beautiful members of the corps 
diplomatique in London, has given more than one 
large entertainment here. The ball she gave 
there, when her two daughters first came out, 
will long be remembered as a brilliant and memor- 
able gathering by the many people who attended it. 

We noticed, as time went on, that many odd 
fads and fancies were indulged in, and that people 
used little discrimination in following any new 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 355 

leader. I have known people who have slept on 
their roof in London to gather strength and 
inspiration from the stars, others who slept on 
balconies or in gardens for nerve cures. It 
seemed to me that London was the last place in 
the world in which to try this cure, which, of 
course, is widely enough practised in more 
propitious climates. 

Credulous people, with more gold than common 
sense, scattered money broadcast among hordes 
of supposed miracle workers, described as mental 
healers, who spang up to meet the demands of 
various new diseases in connection with over- 
strained nerves. 

London was flooded with soothsayers, astro- 
logers, and prophets of all descriptions, who 
professed to cure the overworked, the under- 
worked, the bored and the alert, the inquisitive 
and the neurotic. 

Traces of age were to be banished by refraining 
from laughter or tears, from physical exertion, or 
from vivacity. One woman of my acquaintance 
had her face " lifted " by incisions near the 
temples, where the skin was drawn up and 
neatly stitched together, scars being obviated by 
special treatment. 

During the Indian craze I have been invited 
to parties where one sat cross-legged on the floor, 
and used one's fingers instead of knives and forks, 
in obedience to the tenets of an ancient Indian 
sage, who held health classes. 

Then there was a colour craze when people 
sought their dominant note, and never wore 
anything that was not of the tint which was 
supposed to influence their personality. 

At a country house-party I saw a well-known 



256 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

duchess carry a square ebony frame about with 
her from room to room. 

The centre of the frame held a transparent 
glass disc filled with fluid of a deep purple colour. 
She kept her gaze fixed upon it as much as possible, 
and had her pillow-cases covered at night with 
purple silk. 

Some people studied thought forms and the 
discussion of auras and one's egg-shaped astral 
bodies was quite general in certain sets. I heard 
one lady at a dinner party say that as her neigh- 
bour's aura was of bright scarlet, she could not 
possibly sit next to him. 

People who disapproved of occult studies turned 
to novel forms of religion. 

Among the expounders of these was a certain 
Persian mystic, Abdul Bahar, who appeared in 
London with various turbaned followers to talk 
of a diluted form of Pantheism. Many people, 
chiefly women, hung on his words when he lived 
for a time in Lady Blomfield's flat in Cadogan 
Gardens. 

Once a week Lady Blomfield presided at 
meetings there, when she read short prayers and 
aphorisms of the venerable sage, who proved 
to us that we are all one, in a different degree 
with the animal, vegetable, and mineral world. 

When the Woman's Movement was at its height 
her daughter Mary voiced the Suffragist's appeal 
at the foot of the throne. At one of the Courts 
she halted before the King and Queen when 
making her curtsey, and in a loud voice begged 
for Votes for Women. 

The matter of food did not escape the craze for 
eccentricity. Several people followed the example 
of Princess Bariatinsky, who, during the time of 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 257 

her popularity on the London stage, gave extra- 
ordinary luncheon parties which advocated her 
convictions regarding diet. At one of the lun- 
cheons to which I was invited, the plat de resistance 
was a plateful of fresh chrysanthemum petals 
with sauce piquanie, followed by nut cutlets with 
salad of lily of the valley blossoms with mayon- 
naise sauce, roses in Oriental syrup, and violets in 
Maraschino, crisp biscuits and cheese, and a light 
red wine. 

I felt so ill afterwards that I needed a liqueur 
brandy to combat this weird combination. 

The Princess assured me that she owed her good 
health to the fact that she began the day with a 
dish of raw baby carrots and a cup of hay soup. 
The latter, if properly made, is supposed to contain 
the acme of condensed nourishment. I tasted it, 
and thought it like camomile tea with a dash of 
vinegar in it. She often slept under the stars in 
a Jaeger sleeping bag, and said that most people 
are only half alive in shackles of conventional 
habits. 

Some people may say that I went out of my 
way to know eccentric people in various walks of 
life, and that these are the exceptions rather than 
the rule. 

I think that individuality and personality are 
certainly the most attractive study of all. One 
gets so easily accustomed to luxurious surround- 
ings and food, but never to the eternal surprises 
people themselves can offer. 

Surprises, however, can be as disagreeable as 
pleasant, but then they can sometimes teach one 
a salutary lesson. I did not realise how unwise 
it often is to introduce personal friends to new 
acquaintances unless one is quite sure of their 



258 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

loyalty. A well-known man who had been a 
welcome guest at our house for years, and whom 
we regarded as an intimate friend, was introduced 
by me to some people we had recently met. 
Very soon afterwards the new acquaintance 
warned me that I was harbouring a snake in the 
grass, as our " friend " never missed an oppor- 
tunity of gossiping, and deprecating us both in 
innuendo and open remarks. After this we never 
invited him again. 

Another acquaintance who was nicknamed 
"Home Gossip" passed his time in ferreting out 
and discussing family secrets, and retailing them 
from one house to another to make himself 
" interesting." 

Perhaps the most annoying people of all are 
those whom one introduces to one's friends, and 
who promptly pounce upon them and leave one 
altogether outside the sphere of their own civili- 
ties. Fortunately one does not often meet them, 
and one can put down their want of courtesy to 
their lack of worldly wisdom, and not repeat one's 
mistake. 

We often stayed at country houses, and got 
to know people from a very different point of 
view to that acquired by meeting them at official 
parties in London. I have seen Cabinet Ministers 
playing leap-frog in an empty ballroom, and in 
the gayest of spirits play " High-cock-a-lorum " 
to an amused audience after dinner. 

There was something interesting in most places 
- — family traditions or legends, or again historical 
stories of the locality. In the dining-room of 

H Castle I saw an old scrutoire fixed in the 

wall, and was told it held mysterious manuscripts. 
The key of the little chest had been handed down 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 259 

to the eldest son through five generations, with 
solemn instructions to allow no one else Jo become 
acquainted with the contents. It contained also 
an old folio bound in black velvet, in which he 
was compelled to write, and it is said that from 
that moment all happiness and gaiety of spirit 
left him. 

When I asked why people should be allowed 
to leave their descendants a miserable legacy of 
mysteries, I was told that nothing will ever combat 
family superstitions. 

In another castle I was shown the room of one 
of its chatelaines who had committed suicide. The 
room had remained untouched, and in the middle 
of it a hooped brocaded silk dress stood upright. 
It was said to move up and down the corridors, 
filled by the unhappy ghost who had worn it long 
ago, and that nobody had the courage to touch 
the dress or interfere with the arrangement of the 
room. One night I certainly heard the swishing 
of skirts and faint footfalls outside my bedroom, 
and confess I had not the courage to open the 
door and see for myself whether the ghost had 
come to pay me a visit or not. 

I have copied a few phrases from an old manu- 
script I found in the family library there, which 
run as follows : " The angelic world is the metro- 
polis of Eternity. The Tree of Life grows and 
greens in it, beside the River of Life, which flows 
here pure as crystal. Mountains exhale aromatic 
odours. Here is continual summer, cooled by 
sweet zephyrs, causing the balm of the celestial 
earth to exhale agreeable scents. Come hither 
ye who wish not to labour and to suffer." This 
was marked in red pencil, and I wondered if the 
poor ghost had studied these attractions before 



260 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

voluntarily leaving this world of disappointment 
and change. 

Apropos of change, and the mutability of life, 
I always found consolation in a phrase I saw 
engraved on a calendar belonging to Madame 
Inouye, the Japanese Ambassadress : 

" When all changes for thee, nature is still the 
same, and the same sun rises on all thy days." 

Of all the beautiful gardens I have seen at 
different country places, I loved best that of 
Ty Mawr in the Welsh hills. The owner, Mrs. 
Richard Crawshay, is an enthusiastic gardener, 
and has planned whole fields of flowers which are 
planted in wide strips, and are so well chosen 
that a wealth of blossom of one kind or another 
is available all the year round. I shall never 
forget my first sight of the lily field in full bloom 
one July evening. Over four thousand Madonna 
lilies, twelve to sixteen on a stalk, gleamed like 
sentinel spirits in the summer twilight. The 
heavy perfume, the stillness of the tall trees which 
framed the garden, and the outline of verdant 
hills enclosing the peaceful valley made an 
impression that often returns to me when far 
away from the spot. 

The grounds of Ham Hall in The Dove Valley 
are also unforgettable. When I wandered with 
the hostess, Mrs. Bowring-Hanbury, through the 
portion of the garden called " The Entrance to 
Paradise," I was not surprised to hear that George 
Eliot had loved to seek inspiration in so perfect a 
place, and had written several of her books there. 
The hills all round seemed laid in velvet to the 
summit, while the remote untroubled past brooded 
over the horizon. 

When one is surrounded by the beauties of 



SOCIAL LIFE IN LONDON 261 

Nature one has the intimate conviction that the 
real business of life is to be happy. 

As life is so largely a state of mind, even illusion 
can be real life. Our minds are seed beds and we 
are bereft of the power to choose the seed. All 
we can do is to keep the weeds down as much as 
possible, and cultivate those flowers of the spirit 
which are the most beautiful and fragrant. 



CHAPTER XVII 

VISIT TO BERLIN 

TWO years had elapsed since we left 
Berlin, and the prospect of spending a 
few weeks there in response to invitations 
of friends, filled us with delight. 

It was spring time, and we knew how charming 
the Tiergarten would look in its dress of tender 
green, how gay the streets would be with their 
crowds of pleasure seekers, above all, how interest- 
ing it would be to visit as tourists places which 
were once the framework of our daily lives. 

Everything connected with that journey seemed 
delightful. Coffee and crisp Brodchen had never 
tasted so delicious as those served at breakfast 
on the train from Flushing. As we approached 
Berlin every landmark on the confines of the city 
brought back childhood's memories to my son, 
and remembrances of happy days to me. 

We were welcomed with open arms by our 
friends, we revisited spots endeared to us by a 
thousand incidents, and yet I soon realised what 
a mistake it is to return, when all the conditions of 
life have changed, to a place where one has been 
very happy. 

I felt a spectator of the daily life in which I was 
once participant. I was conscious of a feeling of 
disillusionment on finding that other people had 
filled my place. The old adage, "Qui va a la 

262 



VISIT TO BERLIN 263 

chasse pcrd sa place," holds a crude enough truth. 
Nobody is indispensable, and life swings on, gay 
or triste as the case may be, whether we are there 
or not. 

However, as Nietzsche says, " Only that which 
we have lost is eternally our own." I knew that 
nothing could ever deprive me of the past, and 
resolved to call up all my philosophy and live 
every moment of the present, which so soon 
becomes to-morrow's past. 

There was plenty to see and hear in that beehive 
of progress. 

Judging by the magnificent streets and new 
hotels which had sprung up, as if by magic, during 
the short time which had elapsed since our 
departure, fortunes had been made with remark- 
able rapidity. The wide asphalted streets, swept 
and watered nightly and well furnished with 
paper baskets, looked cleaner than ever. The 
Friedrichstrasse, the Linden, and the Kurfiirsten- 
strasse were ablaze with light from end to end, 
and crowded with people going from one place of 
amusement and from one cafe to another, until 
long past midnight. In the western quarter of 
the city rows of new mansions contained every 
imaginable luxury which could contribute to ease 
of life and daily pleasures. Many of the spacious 
flats contained in the hall their own post office 
tubes, to convey letters direct to the pillar boxes 
in the street, cold storage rooms for furs, and 
electric vacuum cleaners. In addition to magnifi- 
cent reception-rooms and bedrooms for the family, 
servants' quarters, which formerly had hardly 
been taken into consideration, were now spacious 
and fitted with every comfort. In some cases a 
servants' library, well stocked with novels, ad- 



264 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

joined the kitchen, which was invariably tiled 
and arranged with every convenience. 

The theatres were crowded, and were just then 
giving a series of Shakespeare's plays, which by the 
way were performed far more frequently in Berlin 
than in London. We now saw at the Deutsches 
Theater magnificent productions of Hamlet, King 
Lear, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ibsen, 
of course, was in full swing at the Lessing Theatre, 
where a new star had arisen among contemporary 
dramatists in Ernst Hardt, whose Tantris the 
Fool had taken the city by storm. Out of doors, 
the comfortable old horse trams and the little, 
open one-horse carriages in which one could 
amble leisurely from one end of the city'to another, 
had given place to taxis, motor omnibuses, and 
electric trams, while on all sides one saw people 
roller-skating in the streets, avoiding the traffic 
with an agility which seemed little short of 
nrraculous. 

As for the young people, I looked in vain for 
them among the blase youths and precocious girls 
who rang the note of independence and progress, 
and were busy with their love affairs while still 
at school. The moral tone had slackened every- 
where, and " liberty " was tolerated to the verge 
of licentiousness. 

More than ever, dinner parties were on the most 
luxurious scale. The natives of Berlin had 
always bestowed much time, thought, and atten- 
tion on matters concerning food, and now suppers 
at restaurants after the theatre seemed more like 
City banquets. One night at the Kaiserhof I 
watched a wealthy Jew eating steadily for nearly 
an hour without looking right or left. Among the 
hors-d'ceiivres which formed a foundation for 



VISIT TO BERLIN 265 

succulent quails, meats, sweets, etc., were enor- 
mous raw tomatoes, garnished with solid roses 
made of butter, of which no less than four were 
consumed by him before the more serious items on 
the menu were even looked at. 

The spirit of proud economy, which had been so 
apparent in the old days among the military set, 
had now disappeared. An impecunious officer 
would then have walked miles to have been saved 
tram fares, and been satisfied with the frugal 
supper of bread, sausage and beer. The consolation 
afforded him by the fact of his military status 
compensated him for the fleshpots of the financial 
and rich professional world. From the cradle he 
had been taught that a military career was the 
only one fit for a gentleman. Nothing else 
mattered, and the Army ruled the Empire. 

Now officers looked for wealthy alliances which 
would bring the luxuries of life within their sphere 
of enjoyment. Marriages with rich foreigners, 
wealthy Jewesses, daughters of industrial million- 
aires were now encouraged at head-quarters. 

The rigid class divisions of former days had 
almost disappeared. As the huge military system 
expanded by leaps and bounds, more and more 
money was needed to meet modern requirements. 
In the new life of luxury and ease officers lost touch 
with their subordinates, and also lost much of the 
Spartan spirit of endurance that had characterised 
the German Army of 1870. 

In the meantime the rank and file had been 
mentally equipped by the same advanced system 
of education as their superiors, and blind obedience 
on their part was no longer possible. An officer 
who did not share the penurious life to which 
they themselves were condemned, presented to 



266 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

their discontented gaze the picture of an arrogant 
worldling, to whom gambling, horse-racing, and 
fast living were more important than military 
tactics. 

This spirit, which fomented in secret up to the 
period of the war, was no doubt responsible in a 
large degree for the final debacle and absolute 
insubordination of the Teuton Army which aston- 
ished friend and foe alike. 

Imperial favour was now bestowed on wealthy 
citizens in proportion to the amount of money 
which flowed into the Imperial Treasury. The 
prefix " von " was showered right and left, and 
the portals of the castle thrown wide open for 
the entertainment of those who had formerly 
been held at arm's length from Court functions. 

I had long talks with Frau von Moltke about 
all this. Although most of her leisure was swal- 
lowed up by occult studies, and her chief mental 
interest gravitated round Dr. Steiner and his 
disciples, she came from a Spartan race of Viking 
warriors, and deplored this weakening of the 
fibres of the Army. Also, as a woman of the 
world, she was no partisan of this razing of 
Society barriers. 

"lam democrat at heart," she said, " in that 
I respect every individual per se in the scheme of 
life, but education, tradition, and environment 
will always prevent the mingling of the classes. 
It may be ' With us, but not o/us ' by any manner 
of means." 

I asked her if the spirit of occultism had spread 
in Germany since I had left. 

II The majority of people are too busy rushing 
after distractions to think at all," she replied. 
" Pleasure made easy, is the cry of the moment." 



VISIT TO BERLIN 267 

I found in my intercourse with the Berlin 
Society woman of the hour that she was most 
anxious to give one the impression that her life 
was full of erotic experience and love adventures. 
Often this was not at all the case. She was a 
model wife and mother, and did her peccadilloes 
by proxy, making herself conspicuous in the 
society of fast women rather than be thought 
" old-fashioned." 

Many of them had grown very morbid and 
introspective, a characteristic of the women of 
nations which are rushing towards the summit of 
prosperity and decadence. Nothing simple now 
held attraction for them. A wave of hysteria 
seemed to sweep castle and cottage alike. The 
very streets seemed to palpitate with it. 

It prepared the psychological moment for the 
launching of a book like Karin Michaelis' The 
Dangerous Age, which appeared a little later on. 
When the translation of it was flung on the 
German market, it electrified the entire woman's 
community. 

Twenty-five thousand copies of the book were 
sold in a week, and meetings were held in Berlin 
and other cities either to discuss its merits or 
protest against its contents. 

Although great writers, such as Balzac, have 
written so marvellously about the woman of 
thirty or even forty years of age, only a woman 
could accurately portray the psychology of woman 
between forty and fifty, when the autumn of life 
changes the alchenty of her individuality. 

Many people will doubtless say that at that age 
she is no longer interesting or attractive, and 
ought to retire into the backwaters of life and 
make way for youth. But that is not the question 



268 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

in point, nor does it meet the truth. Karin 
Michaelis says : 

" Hitherto no one has dared to speak the truth, 
that woman with every year that passes, becomes 
more and more ' woman.' She ripens far into the 
winter of her days." 

The hostility between the sexes is voiced thus : 

" There is a greater difference between man 
and woman than between the inanimate stone and 
the growing plant. I say that on the whole 
surface of the earth there is not one man who 
knows a woman a fond. Is the truth ever really 
spoken between man and woman ? Men can be 
frank vis-d-vis to themselves and to each other — 
women cannot." 

The novel is the story of a woman who up to 
middle age lived more or less contentedly with 
her most worthy, sensible husband. Then she 
fell in love for the first time, divorced the husband 
(evidently an easy matter in Norway), and 
instead of taking up life with the man she loved, 
and who evidently loved her, fled to some secluded 
spot in order to escape what she considered the 
inevitable debacle of middle-aged love. After a 
time, however, she called him to her side in the 
following terms : 

" Let the years henceforth pass as they will. 
Let old age come ! By that time I shall have 
planted a forest of memories of you and of happi- 
ness. Therein I will wander in peace." 

The lover came, but the spell was broken. 
Absence and separation had destroyed the germ. 

Faute de mieux the heroine now gave the 
despised husband a chance, and hinted that she 
might return to her home and be happy once 
more. 



VISIT TO BERLIN 269 

But she found that life and absence had been 
busy once again, and the deserted one had consoled 
himself with another and a younger wife. 

The volume is really a lesson to women not to 
permit themselves to act on impulse during a 
time when nerves are strained to a pitch which 
renders them hardly normal. In a later visit to 
Berlin I attended one of the lectures about this 
book, and was amazed at the freedom of speech, 
the excitement, the intricate discussions. 

I wondered why they all could not let anno 
domini alone. Each age has its pleasures, and its 
consolations, while the history of all times has 
proved that woman's power to charm is an 
individual gift, not absolutely dependent on 
decades. 

How quickly the v/eeks in Berlin flew by ! They 
were not nearly long enough for all we wanted to 
see and hear. The day before we left we saun- 
tered out to the old part of the city beyond the 
river, where an ancient churchyard dreamed in 
peace. The closely packed stones, devoured by 
moss and time, reared themselves out of the 
emerald green grass. 

Far below, beyond the wall, the river scolded 
and rushed towards the city, without disturbing 
this brooding peace. 

On our way home we paid a visit to Garmisch 
and found, alas ! that this picturesque little place, 
formerly so rustic and so restful, was transformed 
into a tourist resort. The railway from Innsbruck 
was to be extended to Garmisch, and the villagers 
already boasted of the Kurhaus which was nearly 
finished. The " Alpenhof " was bursting with 
visitors, and hotels on an American scale were 
in course of construction. Nothing, however, 



2jo FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

can destroy the beauty of the little place which 
holds a beloved memory spot for me. In summer 
one can revel in the green, dreamy loveliness of 
the valley nestling at the base of the Zugspitze ; 
in late spring the trees on each side of the quaint 
streets are a mass of snowy fruit blossoms and 
flowering chestnuts ; in winter the broad frozen 
Rissersee offers splendid ground for hockey, 
while the great lonely Eibsee, its transparent 
green opaqueness hard as steel, is besieged by 
people ski-ing and rodelling and enjoying them- 
selves healthily in boisterous fashion. 

We were glad to get back to England, which 
now had become " home " for us in every sense 
of the word, and very soon the visit to Berlin 
was laid away with more distant memories, and 
hardly thought of among all the many new 
interests of life in London. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE LAST TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO LONDON 
VISIT TO BERLIN AND SERVIA 

THE new regime in Turkey had given 
rise to much conjecture regarding the 
choice of the new Ambassador to London. 
Most people thought, as the old order of things 
was reversed, and youth had usurped the privilege 
of age, which hitherto had been all-powerful, that 
some young man with progressive ideas, on the 
lines of Enver Bey, would be sent here to represent 
the spirit of the new era. 

Various names were mentioned, among others 
again that of Hamid Bey, who had been in London 
so long, and knew English so well. 

The Sultan's envoy, however, proved to be His 
Highness Tewfik Pacha, who had been for many 
years Minister of Foreign Affairs in Constantinople 
and also Grand Vizier. 

He was a Mahomedan Turk of the old school, 
dignified, polished, cultured and stately. 

He was a consummate diplomatist, and was 
fully conscious of the transition stage through 
which his country was passing. He knew how 
easily it could be shipwrecked on the waves of 
passion and prejudice which were tossing on the 
political horizon. 

There was a certain amount of consternation 
at the London Embassy when a telegram arrived 

271 



272 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

on a Sunday morning to say that the Ambassador, 
with his wife and family, would reach town that 
day instead of a few days later as had been 
expected. 

The Councillor was most anxious that suitable 
meals should be prepared, and every comfort 
ready to greet them on their arrival. His im- 
perfect English was supplemented with marked 
gestures to impress upon the butler the necessity 
of having everything ready. 

The man listened to him for some time in a 
respectful, impassive manner, then quietly 
replied : 

" I understand perfectly well what you want, 
sir; the thing is you can't have it. It is 
Sunday." 

This settled the matter, and meals at an 
hotel were decided upon as a solution of the 
difficulty. 

Madame Tewfik Pacha was an Austrian, and 
she and her daughters, who were extremely intel- 
ligent and charming, learned to speak English 
perfectly during the few years they were in 
London. 

The first large entertainment at the Embassy 
in Portland Place was in connection with the 
celebration of the first anniversary of the Turkish 
Constitution, which took place on July 21st, 1909. 

The gre}^-and-silver drawing-room and the 
reception-rooms which Madame Rifaat Pacha 
had arranged with so much taste were now used 
for the first time to entertain sixteen Delegates 
from various Turkish provinces, deputies of the 
first Turkish Parliament, who came to London to 
celebrate the occasion at the seat of the " Mother 
of Parliaments." 



LAST TURKISH AMBASSADORS 273 

The picturesque Ottoman flag, the white 
crescent and star on the scarlet background, was 
in full prominence. Palms and. exquisite flowers 
rilled all the fire-places and decorated the rooms. 
Oil paintings of the Sultans were hung upon 
panels of Oriental silk, and the smaller reception- 
rooms were bright with scarlet and gold draperies, 
while the buffet was placed in the former billiard- 
room. The reception was attended by all the 
prominent members of the Ottoman colony in 
London — and by several prominent English 
statesmen. There was a dinner party in the 
evening, and everything was done on the most 
lavish scale. 

The King and the British public marked their 
approval of the lightning work which had suddenly 
changed the main features of Government admini- 
stration in Turkey, and placed the country abreast 
with the march of progress. 

The Ambassador presented the Delegates to the 
King and Queen in the Throne Room of Bucking- 
ham Palace, when the Prince and Princess of 
Wales and Princess Victoria, with their suites, 
were present at the ceremony. 

Talaat Bey, President of the Turkish Chamber, 
delivered a message of greeting from Mahomed V, 
to which the King graciously responded. 

The enterprising Sixteen were shown as much 
of the sights of London as was possible during 
their short stay. They were taken to see the 
King's inspection of the London Fire Brigade, 
they were conducted to the Tower, the British 
Museum, and the National Gallery. They were 
greatly impressed by the Houses of Parliament 
and Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards, and 
Downing Street. 



274 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

The Reception Committee, under Lord Onslow, 
arranged a large public dinner at which they were 
the guests of honour. At this banquet Lord 
Curzon of Kedleston made a powerful speech 
calculated to cement the goodwill and under- 
standing which then existed between England 
and Turkey. 

On July 29th a luncheon was given for them by 
the Government at the House of Commons, when 
Sir Edward Grey spoke at length about the amity 
and mutual interests which bound the two nations 
together, and of the friendly terms on which they 
had been for so long. He hoped that the alliance 
would prove a durable one, no matter what 
political unrest the future might hold. 

The following year another Turkish Mission 
was sent to London, but this time on a most 
melancholy duty, as the members of it repre- 
sented their country at the obsequies of King 
Edward. 

Reports about the imposing ceremonies, de- 
scribed at length in the chronicles of the day, were 
sent to head-quarters. They summarised much 
that appeared in the English press, which dwelt 
on the character and personality of the great 
Monarch who had passed away, upon his phe- 
nomenal memory, his immense power of observa- 
tion, and above all on his own personal influence 
which, owing to his kind and genial intercourse 
with his subjects, had made the Court the centre 
of national life. Eulogies of Edward the Great 
and Alexandra the Beautiful will always be found 
in the Turkish archives. 

The Coronation festivities in the following 
year brought foreign representatives and special 
envoys to London from every quarter of the 






LAST TURKISH AMBASSADORS 275 

globe. Turkey sent the heir to the throne, 
Prince Youssouf Izzedin, who arrived in London 
with a large suite. Lady Wantage's mansion in 
Carlton House Terrace was placed at their disposal 
— and the most luxurious paraphernalia in gold 
for toilette and for cooking were unpacked 
here. 

We watched the Coronation procession on the 
balcony of this house, with Madame Tewfik Pacha 
and her children. 

A large dinner party for men was given at the 
Embassy while Prince Youssouf Izzedin was in 
London, and he attended the Court functions in 
connection with the Coronation. He was greatly 
impressed by all he saw, and said that friendship 
with England ought to be cultivated by every 
possible means, as it meant national safety for 
Turkey. 

When he left London the Ambassador and 
my son accompanied him and the suite to 
Dover, and saw them embark on the homeward 
journey. 

• His premature death was much deplored by all 
statesmen. A Turkish proverb says : " Await the 
evening to say if the day is good," and the 
rumoured violent end of Prince Youssouf Izzedin 
reminds one of another Eastern aphorism : 
" Though your enemy be no bigger than an ant, 
suppose him as large as an elephant," and also of 
a third Eastern proverb : " Though thy tongue be 
boneless, it breaks many bones." 

In 1912 my son and I passed through Berlin en 
route to Belgrade and Constantinople. 

In the German capital notable changes were 
apparent. The " Mother of thought " had been 
caught up in the whirlwind of trade and material 



276 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

interest that was rushing over the Old World from 
America. 

People seemed stimulated to do rather than 
dream. There seemed no productive leisure in 
which literary and artistic men could leaven the 
intellectual life of the period. 

Standards of education had shifted. The 
classical side as represented by the Gymnasien and 
the modern side as represented by the Real 
Schulen were now given equal importance, whereas 
a few years previously superiority was accorded to 
the former. 

The diminishing attendance at the Gymnasien 
proved that the youth of the day trained pre- 
ferably in practical grooves of modern thought, 
science, and modern languages, to enable him in 
future to keep abreast with the times. 

We heard that brutal methods accompanied 
this instruction. A dull scholar was frequently 
rendered almost idiotic by terrific boxes on the 
ears, or by having his head banged repeatedly 
against the wall. Another charming method of 
" waking up a boy " was to take him by the wrist 
and knock his elbow on the desk ; caning on the 
hand was a trivial detail ; the English system of 
chastisement in schools did not exist. 

The drama did not escape the waves of realism. 
Obvious themes were in demand, and amusements 
which did not tax an overtired brain. Haupt- 
mann was spoken of as a paling genius, his 
Sunken Bell and Pippa Dances, which formerly 
charmed the public with their transcendental 
beauty and idealism, made way for the lighter 
works of Arthur Schnitzler and similar authors. 
Favourite plays just now were : Abschieds Souper 
and Liebelei with their light French-Viennese- 



LAST TURKISH AMBASSADORS 277 

Jewish wit. The overworked brain of the money- 
maker turned to them for recreation. Another 
favourite play was Moral, by Ludwig Tome. The 
theme turns upon the power of the German 
police, and the work of a Vigilance Society for 
the protection of public morals. Moral was 
translated into English and played frequently 
in America. Wedekind's remarkable play, The 
Awakening of Spring, daringly discussed the ques- 
tion of the advisability of keeping youth in 
ignorance of the fundamental laws of sex. 

The author showed the craving for beauty, 
love, and poetry which ever lies in the heart of the 
young, and the distorted forms it may assume 
when handled by scholastic tyranny and con- 
vention. He broke a lance for romance combined 
with realism, his hero and heroine, both mere 
children, innocently followed the sex call of 
nature, with inevitable disastrous results. The 
play was given in a large, square hall — the 
Kammerspiele, in which most ultra-modern plays 
were performed which the more stereotpyed 
theatres hesitated to produce. The Awakening of 
Spring evoked passionate discussion in all classes 
of thought ; at the performances of it one some- 
times saw clergymen with their adolescent sons, 
and mothers with their flapper daughters, while 
on the other hand, other parents cast up their 
eyes in horror, and said the play was a disgrace to 
the nation. In the little theatre Unter den Linden 
translations of Bernard Shaw's plays and Gorki's 
Lower Depths were performed to crowded audi- 
ences. 

In the matter of private entertainments the 
Jewish financiers were very much to the fore, 
and the whole of the Court set went to their 



278 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

parties, while the hosts boasted that now they 
were admitted to the intimacy of the All-Highest. 
The reign of Pluto was supreme. 

Militarism closely ran the gauntlet with finance, 
and had become more aggressive and imbued with 
its own importance. Officers swaggered on the 
pavements, making female pedestrians step off 
the kerb to allow them to pass. The brutal 
methods of the officers towards their men were 
even discussed with a certain amount of head- 
shaking at some of the dinner parties. 

The majority of the sheltered girls of the upper 
classes had also broken old traces, and were more 
emancipated than even girls in England. Mothers 
and chaperones were voted as bores, and girls 
went out alone and had their own latch-key. The 
more seriousfy-inclined of them followed the same 
course of study as their brothers, they competed 
for the Abiturien examination, followed the 
University courses, and entered the professional 
lists. Those who had private means flew away 
from the parental nest and lived in rooms or a 
flat of their own. The question of sex was one 
upon which they held views which brooked no 
interference from their elders. 

Just before the War the whole mental and 
moral tone in the German capital was strained to 
breaking point, and one can only wonder in what 
direction all this would have led if the cataclysm 
of the great War had not forced it into spon- 
taneous combustion. 

My son and I discussed all this while, after 
our most crowded fortnight, we were safely in 
the Orient express on our way to the Serbian 
capital. 

We arrived at the main station in Belgrade 



LAST TURKISH AMBASSADORS 279 

about midnight, and the first impression we 
gained of it was an almost terrifying one. Our 
luggage was piled on a little open carriage which 
turned from the station towards a steep hill, 
which was in complete darkness save for the 
glimmer of an occasional lantern hung here and 
there. The street was so badly paved and we were 
jolted to such an extent that I wondered if we 
would ever reach our hotel in safety. When at 
last we arrived there, we thought the driver must 
have made a mistake. It was the chief hotel of 
the city, and boasted as dining-room a large bare 
saloon with sanded floor, in which people of all 
denominations were eating, drinking, or playing 
cards at the numerous square, wooden tables. 
Comforts in the bedrooms were non-existent, and 
when our Minister came to see us next day and 
invited us to go to the Legation, we were only too 
delighted to accept. 

Our stay in Belgrade stands out in remembrance, 
vested with the added interest given to it by the 
War. 

The wielders of the olive branch in smaller, 
less-conspicuous States jumped suddenly into 
prominence when the muffled drums of war 
echoed in sinister warning from the Balkan States 
to the extreme south-east of Europe. 

Ali Fuad Bey, my husband's former colleague 
in Berlin, and one of our best friends, was now 
Turkish Minister here. We were much interested 
to find all our family portraits in a place of honour 
in one of the reception-rooms, and a large signed 
photograph of Mrs. Patrick Campbell on one of the 
tables. 

" You remember our happy evenings spent with 
this most charming of ladies ? " he said, point- 



2 8o FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

ing to the photograph. " What unforgettable 
hours !*' 

The guests we were invited to meet included 
several foreign diplomats and the whole of the 
Turkish Legation personnel. Three Turkish ladies 
were present, the wives of secretaries, in European 
dress, with no hint of yashmak or feridge. None 
of them spoke anything but Turkish, yet all were 
very vivacious and full of gesture, conversing 
freely, and getting the male members of the 
Embassy to translate their remarks. After dinner, 
music and bridge helped to make the evening 
pass pleasantly. 

Fuad Bey told me that his post in Bel- 
grade would probably not be of very long 
duration, owing to the clouds on the political 
horizon. Great importance was bestowed on 
the maintenance of Turkish supremacy in the 
provinces, which the Turks had won by the 
sword, yet were less able to maintain than to 
acquire. 

Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, all once 
under Turkish suzerainty, were struggling for 
independence, and the Balkan States, once in an 
attitude of jealous defensiveness towards each 
other, were to make common cause in demanding 
independent rights. 

Bulgaria, until 1908 a political division of 
Turkey, asserted as its first leader of independence 
Prince Ferdinand, whom we had met under such 
interesting circumstances both in Berlin and in 
London, and who sprang later into such promi- 
nence. Pourparlers between Bulgaria and Serbia 
by the Turkish Ministers accredited to their 
capitals, were accompanied with more flowery 
language and suavity of manner than that 



LAST TURKISH AMBASSADORS 281 

employed by the representatives to the Great 
Powers. 

At the time of our visit Serbia was beginning to 
express its demand for a sea-port. Covetous 
glances were being cast on Salonika, the Marseilles 
of the East. Its capital seemed still to be palpi- 
tating from the effects of the assassination of 
King Alexander and Queen Draga in 1903. For 
three years from that time England had refused 
to be diplomatically represented there, and it was 
only when King Peter carne to the throne in 1906 
that Sir James Whitehead again took up the 
diplomatic threads, and was succeeded by Sir 
Ralph Paget in 1910. As the Kingdom of Serbia 
only dated from 1882, when Milan I was pro- 
claimed King, it was still over anxious to assert 
itself. Fuad Bey told me that his post in Belgrade 
was considered a most important one by the 
Turkish Foreign Office, and that more tact was 
required in his diplomatic work here than was 
needed anywhere else. He drove us several times 
through the charming country surroundings of the 
city, and but for the wretchedness of the roads 
these drives would have been very pleasant. But 
road making is evidently not much practised in 
Serbia, for the carriage bumped up and down with 
such energy, that I was forcibly reminded of 
Mdle. Olga's exclamations on our drive to 
Tahsin Pacha's harem. It was more pleasant 
to halt at the summit of verdant slopes, and 
watch the blue waters of the Danube flowing 
at the foot of the Belgrade Hills, while our 
friend chatted to us about his life here and 
the necessity for keeping " La dragee haute, et la 
forte entr'ouverte." 

He laughed when I asked him whether he spelt 



282 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

" Porte " with a small or a capital letter, and 
replied, " Cest selon ! ' 

Of course he has long since left Belgrade, where 
his genial bonhomie, and his broad-minded views 
of life and people in general, earned him many 
life-long friends. 



CHAPTER XIX 

LAST VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE: FINAL NOTES 

WE left Belgrade in a slow train which 
was to reach the Turkish capital by 
a circuitous route. Thus we had 
every opportunity of studying the landscape, of 
admiring rugged gorges and rushing rivers, of 
watching the sun set on verdant plains where 
picturesque figures in multi-coloured dress and 
sheepskin cloak stood sentinel over flocks and 
herds. Or again, when the train halted at any of 
the stations, we could buy bouquets of field flowers 
from dear, shy little children who proffered them, 
or sweets and postcards from more clamorous 
vendors. Sometimes, too, we broke the bread of 
friendship with a gipsy or two. One of those 
wandering mystics, who are to be found in out- 
lying parts near the Turkish capital, broke an egg 
on the ground, sprinkled poppy seeds over it, and 
with meaning glances to us both, spoke as follows 
— my son translating the sentences as they fell 
from her lips : " Frank woman, with a head like 
a bookcase, your destiny is to wander. Your 
restlessness will cause you to build up, only to 
destroy — to pitch your tent in one place after 
another. Your end will be far from your native 
land, you will lose every one of those who are 
nearest and dearest to you. This journey you are 
now taking with the Effendi is a useless one. You 

283 



284 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

will shake the dust of the city from your feet, 
and return very soon. And you, Effendi," turning 
her burning gaze on my son, " your life's flame h 
leaping up . . . up, and " 

But I clutched my boy by the arm, and turned 
away with an impulse which forbade my listening 
any more. I threw her some money, and in 
response to my boy's expostulations that I ran 
away at the psychological moment, replied 
that she talked nonsense, as this journey would 
probably mean a stay in Constantinople of many 
months. The fact is, I was afraid of what she 
might say, if discussing his future. In this land, 
sacred to miracle, there always seems to be a 
mixture of the supernatural with the historical. 
This gipsy had a way of looking at one as if her 
soul had just fathomed a great secret. I caught 
her glance as I turned away from her, and she put 
her ringer over her lips, and shook her head 
mournfully. 

I wished we had not spoken to her, but when I 
looked at her for the last time from the window of 
the railway station, her spirit seemed attuned to 
the wide, luminous calm of earth and sky, and 
peace slid into my heart once more. Her abstract 
gaze proclaimed the possession of something that 
could never be spoiled or broken — something 
caught from the very heart of Fate. 

We were not meant to think and brood too 
much over things. Thought is often a malady 
which poisons all energy and health. I resolved to 
take life simply now, and as it came. 

We reached Constantinople about six in the 
morning and were kept for an hour in the Custom 
House while our passports and luggage were 
examined, the latter in spite of our laisser passer. 



VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE 285 

An avalanche of words in French, German, English, 
and Turkish fell upon us the moment we got into 
the street, and we were literally thrown, bag and 
baggage, into one of the waiting carriages, the 
driver of which was more masterful than the 
rest. 

We had rooms in an hotel in the Rue de Pera, 
and my boy was very interested at this glimpse of 
lite in a spot where perhaps his duties would force 
him to remain for some time, if he worked at the 
Foreign Office here. This would mean that he 
decided to continue in the career and qualify at 
head-quarters. 

After we had been there a few weeks he told me 
that he saw no chance for him of either happiness 
or advancement unless he returned to England 
and took up some other form of work. A diplo- 
matic career for foreigners in Turkey was a thing 
of the past. We observed many things which 
probably the Europeans who lived in Turkey 
noticed less than the new-comers. 

A spurious kind of Western progress, based 
chiefly on German lines, had been grafted on the 
native life, and the Turks seemed palpitating with 
a constant apprehension of danger, and animated 
with defiant mistrust. One afternoon we were in 
a crowded hall at a cinema performance, when 
suddenly the electric light went out. After an 
interval of a few seconds it went up again, and we 
saw that nearly every man in the hall had a 
revolver in his hand. 

Whilst strolling through the bazaars, or on 
entering Turkish cafes, my son met looks of 
dislike, and heard muttered curses against 
foreigners. The old Turkish friends whom we 
visited, strongly advised my son to return to 



286 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

England. A number of old Ottoman families 
were preparing to leave Turkey and migrate to 
Switzerland, where they intended asking for 
naturalisation ; they were selling houses, lands, 
and jewels, and realising as much of their posses- 
sions as possible. 

We met Yvette Guilbert in the bazaars one 
morning, when we were looking for rugs and 
Oriental embroideries. She told us her stay in 
Turkey interested her very much, and that her 
songs were greatly appreciated here. 

She laughed when I told her what had happened 
in the Sultan's harem when Sarah Bernhardt stood 
up to declaim portions of Ptedre to the ladies 
there. Many of them drew their mantles over 
their heads and rushed away, others stood up 
trembling, and pointing fingers to avert the Evil 
Eye, while others frankly gave themselves over to 
audible lamentations. 

Many European celebrities had visited the 
capital and the harem since then, and the inmates 
were no longer as ingenuous as before. 

As soon as my son had finally decided to leave, 
we tried to go at once, but again found that it was 
easier for us to enter the capital than to leave it. 
Friendly influence was again brought to work on 
our behalf, and it was with a feeling of positive 
relief that we felt the train rumble out of the 
station to bear us homewards. 

After our return to London my son handed in 
his demission to the Ambassador and identified 
himself with the country in which he had been 
born, and which had claimed all his sympathy and 
convictions. 

During his five years' experience as attache in 
the Turkish Embassy in London history had been 



VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE 387 

made with surprising rapidity, and the old order of 
things had passed away. 

He had served under three Ambassadors, 
accredited to King Edward and to King George. 
Looming over this brief space of time hung the 
tragedy of the Balkan War, with all its unrest and 
political difficulties in matters connected with the 
Near East. He had worked during the time of the 
deposition of Abdul Hamid, the declaration of the 
Turkish Constitution, and the feverish zeal of the 
New Administration with its insistent cry of 
" Turkey for the Turks." 

He experienced the exuberances of a great 
national awakening, the attempts to Ottomanise 
all non-Turkish elements, and to make the Turkish 
language compulsory for Arabs, Armenians, and 
Albanians. 

The Committee of Union and Progress, in trying 
to lift their country out of the influence of despot- 
ism, had to contend with all the exaggerations and 
extremes of a transition stage. 

The Koran ordered nations to march with the 
centuries, but standards of progress in the 
twentieth century seemed to be matters of 
explosion. Two years before the outbreak of war 
the ^nell had sounded for the passing away of all 
the tolerance, the peace and the mutual under- 
standing that had existed between Turkey and 
England when, as a little child, my boy had 
wandered in and out of the stately rooms in 
Bryanston Square. 

When Tewfik Pacha left London, almost the 
last words he uttered when bidding it farewell 
were : " This is probably the last Turkish Embassy 
to London." 

The aged diplomat realised to the full the 



288 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 

misfortune brought upon his native land by the 
rupture with its best and most faithful friend. 
Time alone will prove whether his surmise was 
correct. 

After the outbreak of war my son volunteered 
for the British Army and was called to the 
colours. But he responded to a Higher Call, 
and in the flower of his youth passed into that 
Silent Land where nationality and prejudice 
count no more, and where wars and rumours of 
wars have ceased. 

How many mothers — who never forget — must 
now turn in freemasonry of grief to face a desolate 
world in this land of partings and meet the 
supreme problem of the great " Why." 

Summer flowers adorn, or winter snows enshroud 
the graves of our dearest ones in God's Garden, as 
we grope for that moral support in suffering which 
so many of us need far more than any material 
help. 

For so many of us something is broken which 
in this world can never be mended, and the word 
" to-morrow " seems empty of personal happiness. 
With the clairvoyance which loneliness gives, we 
know that the world, if it can give us nothing 
more, can also take nothing else away which can 
touch the depths of grief. We realise that the 
dead hold us closer than the living, and are with 
us always, clear in the amber of memory untouched 
by the world's blight. 

We treasure tokens of the past, and garner 
them close for the barren years that yield but 
memory, until they become invested with the 
sweet sadness of an autumn day, which breathes 
of the melancholy of things that pass, and of 
summers unfulfilled. Then we gather in the 



VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE 289 

distillation of the years, and make the flowers of 
long ago bloom once again in the Garden of 
Recollections. 

Only forgetfulness divides, and the hearts we 
seek are seeking ours. 

In looking back alone over the eventful years 
of the past, the following lines swing through my 
brain : 

" Le livre de la vie est un livre supreme 

Qu'on ne peut ouvrir ni fermer a son choix. 
On voudrait revenir a la page que Ton aime, 
Et la page ou Ton meurt est d£ja sous le doigt." 



INDEX 



A 



Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey, 91, 

199 
Abdul Bahar, Persian mystic, 256 
Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey — 
attempt on life of, 190, 220 
courage of, 190 
deposition of, 247, 287 
description of, 201, 202 
his fondness for animals, 184 
his love of music, 184 
picture painted of, 5,6 
and Princess Brancovan, 184 
suspects all European Powers 

except German}', 190 
visits to Medjidieh Mosque, 190, 

200 
watches march past of troops, 
201 
Abdy Bey, Turkish Military 
Attache in Vienna, son of 
Reouf Pacha, 133, 222 
Academy, private view at, 67, 68 
Acropolis, the, 211 
Albani, Mde., 13, 70 
Alexander II, Czar of Russia, ;, 

18, 92, 126 
Alexander, King of Serbia, 281 
Alexandra, Queen — 

at Austrian Embassy, 33 

at ball at Londonderry- House, 

61 
at Drawing Rooms, 10, 12 
eulogized by Turkey, 274 
and German Emperor and 

Empress, 38 
at Jubilee in 1887, 16 
Turkish delegates presented to, 

2 73 

Alexandra Feodorovna, ex-Czar- 
ina of Russia, 17, 18 

Aley, Syrian village, 203, 204, 210, 
214 



Ali Bey, brother of Secretary at 

Turkish Embassy, 71-74. 80, 

81 
Ali Nizami Pacha, head of Special 

Turkish Mission, representing 

Sultan at 1887 Jubilee, 15 
Alphonso, King of Spain, visits 

Berlin in search of wife, 138 
Alsen Strasse in Berlin, Turkish 

Embassy transferred to, 138, 

142 
Alvarez, artist, 13 
Andersen, Hans Christian, 171 
Anderson, Sir Percy, 89 
Aosta, Duke of, 32 
Aosta, Duchess of, ^2 
Arabs, dreaming of emancipation 

from Turkish yoke, 205 
their proficiency in English 

language, 206 
Aristide, cook to Rustem Pacha, 1 
Arnoldson, Sigfrid, Swedish singer, 

13 
Augusta Victoria, ex-Kaiserin — 
attends wedding of Crown 

Prince, 179, 180 
at Court functions in Berlin, 

122, 126, 127 
her visit to London in 1891, 36- 

38 

" Austru," scorching wind preva- 
lent in Roumania, 188 

Averescu, Mde., wife of Rouman- 
ian Military Attache in 
Berlin, 154, 178, 179 



B 



" B," Swedish Countess, friend of 

Rustem Pacha, 49 
Baalbeck, site of ancient ruins of 

sun-worshippers, 209, 2 1 1 



191 



292 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 



Babda, 203 

Bairam, Mahommedan Festival of, 

77, 73 
Bancroft, Sir Squire, 68 
Bancroft, Lady, 68 
Barett, Miss, " Lucien's " govern- 
ess, 97 
Bariatinsky, Princess, 256, 257 
Barrington, Mr., 89 
Barry, Rev. Canon, 86 
Bashford, Mr. John, English news- 
paper correspondent in Ber- 
lin, 136 
Bassewitz, Count, 104 
Bassewitz, Countess, 104 
Bavaria, Crown Prince Louis of, 

171 
Begas-Parmentier, Mde., painter, 

167 
Beit-Eddin, Palace of, residence 
; ,.; of Governor-General of Leb- 
anon, 75, 207 
Beldiman, M., Roumanian Minis- 
ter in Berlin, 142 
Beldiman, Mde., 142, 146 
Belgrade, 278 
Berlin — 

artistic circle in, 166-176 
Christmas in, 118 
Court functions in, 120-132 
cult of housekeeping in, 105-107 
domestic service in, 97, 98, 157 
education in, 99-102 
Embassies in, 135-142 
espionage upon Embassies in, 

144 
further impressions of in later 

years, 262-270, 275-278 
impressions of, 96, 99 
luxury in, 150-152 
social life in, 129-134, 159-162 
spiritual seances in, 109-1 18 
status of Jews in, 123 
traffic in, 99 
Bernhardt, Sarah, 70, 286 
Beroldingen, Countess von, 1 59 
Besant, Mrs., 31 
Beshik Tasch, 220 
Bethusy-Huc, Countess, daughter 

of General von Moltke, 108 
Beyrout, 181, 182, 196, 203, 206 
Bille, M. de, Danish Minister in 
in London, 88 



Bittencourt, Mde. de, 254 

Blavatsky, Mde., 31 

Blomfield, Lady, 256 

Blomfield, Mary, suffragist, 256 

Bourtouline, General, of Russian 
Embassy in London, 1 2 

Bowring-Hanbury, Mrs., 260 

Braddon, Miss, 68 

Brancovan, Princess, 183, 184 

Brockdorff, Countess, chief lady- 
in-waiting to ex-German Em- 
press, 120, I2i, 126, 132 and 
footnote 

Brown Potter, Mrs., 46 

Bruce, Marshal, 90 

Bryanstone Square, 1 , 70, 90 

Bucharest, 182, 183, 188 

Buckingham Palace, State func- 
tions in Victorian days at, 8- 

15 
Biilow, Prince von, 142, 167 
Biilow, Princess, 131, 137, 142, 

151 

Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 40, 90 
Burnaby, Colonel, 3 
Bury, Mdlle. Blaze de, 27 
Butt, Clara, 13 

Buzzi, Dr., fashionable phj'sician 
in Berlin, 156 



Calve, artist, performing at State 
concerts in London, 13 

Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 167, 
279 

Campbell, Praed. See Praed 

Cambridge, Duke of, 26, 86 

:< Carmen Sylva." See Elizabeth, 
Queen of Roumania 

Castel Pelesh, summer residence 
of " Carmen Sylva," 188 

Caux, Marquise de. See Mde. 
Adelina Patti 

Cavendish, Lady Edward, head 
of household at British Em- 
bassy in Berlin, 135 

Charlotte von Meinigen, Princess, 
sister of ex- Kaiser, 161 

Chefakat, the, Turkish Order of 
Mercy, 40, 41 



INDEX 



293 



Chekib Bey, second Secretary at 
Turkish Embassy in London, 
2 
C emlan, 181, 202, 208, 212, 213 
Chevet, French caterer, supplied 
dinner for Turkish Embassy 
in London, 14 
Chichnichu, Roumanian lake, 185 
"Cholera Fran," the, German 

fortune-teller, no, in 
Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, 

Prince, 86 
Churchill, Lady Randolph, 68 
Clarence, Duke of, 80, 207 
Clarke, Mrs., "Tea-leaf Sibyl," 

66, 67, 242 
Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice, 

68 
Colquhoun, Sir Patrick, 54, 55 
Constantinople, 182, 189, 191, 196, 

203, 284 
Cornwallis-West, Mrs., 68 
Cornwallis-West, Miss, her marri- 
age with Prince Pless, 10 
Costaki Anthopoulos Pacha, suc- 
ceeded Rustem Pacha as 
Turkish Ambassador to Lon- 
don, 8, 92, 93, 247 
Cottenham, Countess of, 55 
Councillor to Turkish Embassy in 
London and Berlin, husband 
of author — 
advice to Ali Bey, jt> 
his affection for Rustem Pacha, 

83 
appointed Councillor of Turkish 

Embassy in Berlin, 92 
career of, J, 3, 18 
as Charge d'Affaires in Berlin, 

139 

consults Dr. Buzzy, 156 

death of, 215 

descent of, 2 

dislike of changed atmosphere 
at Berlin Embassy under 
Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, 140- 
142 

his farewell to Rustem Pacha, 
86 

and Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 
124-126 

his friendship with M. Wadding- 
ton, 15 



his ill-health due to overwork, 

85, 86 
at Naval Review in 1887, 20 
his views on occult science, 18, 

30 
visits Kainzenbad for rest-cure, 

182 
his work at Embassy in Berlin, 
95. 96 
Cramm, Baron von, Minister for 

Brunswick in Berlin, 152 
Crawshay, Mrs. Richard, owner 

of Ty Mawr, 260 
" Crivets," arctic wind blowing 
for three months annually in 
Roumania, 188 
Currie, Sir Philip, British Am- 
bassador in Constantinople 
and Rome, 41 
Currie, Lady, 44, 45 and foot- 
note 
Curzon, Lord, of Kedleston, 89, 
274 



I) 



Damascus, 203 

D'Aubigny, Countess, wife of 
Councillor of French Embassy 
in London, 20, 27, 34 

Davies, Ben, 13, 129 

Deep, seaside village on Baltic, 
162 

Derenburg, Prince, sent to Russia, 
149 

Deym, Countess, wife of Austrian 
Ambassador in London, 33, 
37 

Dolgorouky, Prince, Governor- 
General in Moscow, 1 7 

Donniges, Helene von. See Prin- 
cess Racowitza 

Donop, Baroness von, daughter 
of Baroness de Reuter, 63, 
64 

Draga, Queen of Servia, wife of 
King Alexander, 281 

Drawing-room in Victorian days, 
description of, 8-1 1 

Drummond-Hay, Mrs., wife of 
British Consul at Aley, 214 

Druses, sect in Syria, 205 



294 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 



Eames, artist, performing at 
State concerts in London, 

13 
Eberlein, sculptor, 172, 173 
Eberlein, Frail, 172, 173 
Edward VII— 
at Austrian Embassy in Lon- 
don, 33 
entertains ex-German Emperor 

and Empress, 38 
eulogized by Turkey, 274 
funeral of, 274 
opens Imperial Institute, 21 
presents charger to Mohammed 

V, 248 
receives Rifaat Pacha in private 

audience, 247 
Turkish Delegates presented to, 

273 
Elizabeth, Queen of Roumama, 

" Carmen Sylva," 186-189 
Elpons, General von, "Military 

Host" to Turkish Cadets, 

1 33 
Eugenie, Empress, 32 
Eulenberg, von, Court-Marshal in 

Berlin, 142 
Eyoub, Turkish village, 1 94 



Fane, Violet. See Lady Currie 
Fano, Danish seaside resort, 163 
Ferdinand, ex- King of Bulgaria, 

28, 124-126, 280 
Ferid Pacha, Grand Vizier to 

Sultan Abdul Hamid, 220, 

222 
Fenerez, M. de, Italian Ambas- 
sador in London, 88 
Florence, Rustem Pacha stays 

there, 3 
Florian, Count de, 34 
Florian, Countess de, 34 
Franz, factotum to Ahmed Tcwfik 

Pacha, 178 
Freige, Marquis, 208 
Friedlander-Fuld, Herr Fritz von, 

known as "Coal King" in 



Germany, Dutch Consul in 

Berlin, 130, 131, 136 
Friedman, actor, second husband 

of Princess Racowitza, 171 
Fuad Bey, Ali, Turkish Minister 

in Belgrade, 119, 279, 280, 

281 
Fuad Pacha, 3 91 



Gadban, Mr. Paul, Turkish 

Consul-Gencral, 79 
Gambatti, Signor, pianist, 32 
Garmisch, 182, 269 
George V, 86, 179, 207, 273, 287 
George, King of Greece, 62 
Gersdorff, Fraulein von, 120 
Ghalib Bey, Turkish Ambassador 
in Berlin — 
entertainments of, 103 
his kindness to " Lucien," 1 19 
makes Embassy centre of family 

life, 119, 140 
pays State call on ex- Kaiser, 

120 
superseded at Berlin, 1 39 
visits Constantinople on account 
of financial difficulties at 
Berlin Embassy, 139 
Ghazi Moukthar Pacha, 3 
Giers, M. de, 90 
Gladstone, W. E., 7, 51, 62, 68 
Gladstone, Mrs., 68 
Glenesk, Lord, 88 
Goldsmid, Lady, 22, 64 
Golz, General von der, 143 
Golz, Mde., von der, 143, 146 
Greenaway, Kate, 68 
Greindl, Baroness de, wife of 
Belgian Minister in Berlin, 
104 
Grey of Falloden, Lord, 274 
Griinhoff, Baroness, 1 1 7 
Guilbert, Yvette, 286 



II 

" H.," Mrs., 75 

Hahnke, General von, 143-145, 
147 



INDEX 



295 



Hamid Bey, first Secretary to 
Turkish Embassy in London, 
2, 7, 46, 59, 246, 271 

Hamilton, Lord George, repre- 
sents Queen Victoria at 
funeral of Rustem Pacha, 89 

Harem, daily life in, 217-219, 223, 
224 

Hartz Mountains, the, 162-164 

Hatzfeldt, Count, German Am- 
bassador in London, 36, 41, 
42, 88 

Hatzfeldt, Countess, 42 

Hatzfeldt, Count Herman, son of 
German Ambassador, 42 

Hatzfeldt, Countess Baby, daugh- 
ter of German Ambassador, 
42 

Hawksley, Mr. Bourchier, legal 
adviser to Turkish Embassy 
in London, 91 

Hegerman-Lindencrone, Mde. de, 
wife of Danish Minister in 
Berlin, 153 

Hegerman-Lindencrone, Mdlle . 
Frederike de, 153 

Heligoland, German boys taught 
value of, 10 1 

Hcliopohs, 209 

Herkomer, Sir Hubert, 68 

Heurtel, Mde., 34 

Hobart Pacha, widow of, 222 

Hobe, Mde. de, wife of Aide-de- 
Camp to Sultan of Turkey, 69 

Hoffnung, Mr. Sidney Francis, 
Charge d' Affaires to Queen 
of Sandwich Islands, 22 

Hohenlohe, Prince, 142 

Horan, Plain of, 210 

Humbert, King of Italy, 32, 128 

Hume, conductor of occult seances 
in St. Petersburg, 18 



Ihne, Herr von, ex-Kaiser's 

favourite architect, 153 
Ihne, Frau von, 153 
Ihsan Bey, 216, 217, 219, 228 
Ihsan Bey, Mde., 217, 223, 226 
Ham Hall, country seat in Dove 
Valley, 260 



Imam of the Turkish Embassy in 
London, 2, 78, 79 

Imperial Institute, opening of, 21 

Inouyc, Mde., Japanese Ambas- 
sadress in London, 260 

Ismail Pacha, ex- Khedive of 
Egypt, 28, 46 

Izzedin, Prince Youssouf, 275 



K 



Kadaeff, anarchist, murderer of 

Grand Duke Serge of Russia, 

18 
Kainzenbad, 182, 209, 234 
Kaiser, ex-. See William II 
Kaiserin, ex-. See Augusta Vic- 
toria 
Kapiolani, Queen of the Sandwich 

Islands, visits England for 

1887 Jubilee, 22 
Karolyi, Countess, wife of Austrian 

Ambassador in London, 33, 
Kendal, Mr., 68 
Kendal, Mrs., 68 
Kennedy, Miss Nina, fashionable 

fortune-teller, 65 
Kensal Green, burial-place of 

Rustem Pacha, 88 
Kimberley, Lord, 88 
Kirschner, Fraulein, " OssipSchu- 

bin," novelist, 167, 168 
Koch, Herr, Director of Deutsche 

Bank, Turkish Consul- 

General in Berlin, 130, 164 
Koch, Frau, 164 
Konarska, Countess de, 149 
Konigsmark, Count Hans von, 

married widow of Mr. John 

Bashford, 136 
Koralewski, Frau, spiritualistic 

medium, 1 13-116 
Koweit, Sheikh of, 205 
Krausc, Herr von, wealthy banker 

in Berlin, 131, 137 
Kriisc, sculptor, 168 



Landi, Mdlle., performing at 
State concerts in London, 13 



296 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 



Lanza, Count, Italian Ambassador 

in Berlin, 131, 137 
Lara, Mr. Isidore de, 64 
Lascelles, Lady, wife of British 

Ambassador in Berlin, 103, 

104, 135 
Lassalle, Ferdinand, 170, 171 
Lebanon, Governorship of, 3, 15, 

32, 181 
Lebanon hills, the, 204 
Lecky, W. E. H., historian, 23 
Leinster, Duchess of, 12, 13 
Leipziger Platz, Turkish Embassy 

in Berlin situated in, 95, 138, 

139 

Lenbach, painter, 172 

Lerchenfeld, Count, 143 

Lichnowsky, Prince, his praise of 
England and everything Eng- 
lish, 107 

Liliokalani, Princess, sister of 
Queen of Sandwich Islands, 
22 

Lincoln, Mr., American Minister 
in London, 39 

Lippe, Count, 240 | 

Lloyd, Edward, 13, 70 

Londonderry, Marchioness of, 61 

Loucadou, General von, 142, 147 

Lowther, Miss Aimee, 55 

" Lucien," Attache to Turkish 
Embassy in London, son of 
author — 
as Attache to Turkish Embassy 

in London, 242, 286, 287 
attends funeral of Rustem 

Pacha, 89, 90 
childish days at Turkish Em- 
bassy in London, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 
completes studies in Berlin, 

235 
death of, 287 

education of in Berlin, 96-102 
experiences as Attache at 

Turkish Embassy, 286, 287 
at funeral of Etienne Musurus 

Pacha, 245 
gipsy's prophecy respecting, 284 
godson of Rustem Pacha, 1, 4 
interview with Tewfik Pacha, 

191, 192 
joins British Army at outbreak 

of War, 287 



leaves Turkish Embassy, 286 
and Moustapha Bey, 185 
Order of Medjidieh bestowed 

upon, 244 
re-visits Berlin, 262-270, 275- 

278 
presented to King Edward VII, 

243 
takes part in social life in 

London, 250-261 
tour in East with his mother, 

183-234 
his visit to Serbia, 278-284 
Lwoff, Princess, 167 



M 



Macartney, Sir Halb'day, Scottish 
Councillor of Chinese Lega- 
tion, 34, 35 

Macartney, Lady, 35 

Magic Pool at Eyoub, the, 194, 

195 
Makart, Hans, painter, 172 
Malcolm, Khan, Prince, Envoy 

to Shah of Persia, 23 
Malcolm, Princess Sultane, 23 
Mandrake roots, given to Queen 

Victoria, 81, 82 
Manners-Sutton, Mrs., sister to 

Colonel Burnaby, 3 
Mansion House, banquet at, 25 
Marini, Count de. See Rustem 

Pacha 
Marini, Countess de, mother of 

Rustem Pacha, 50 
Maronites, sect in Syria, 205 
Mary, Queen, 179, 273 
Mascagni, artist, 63 
Maud, Queen of Norway, 33 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand 

Duke of, 179 
Mecklenburg, Grand Duchess 

Anastasia of, 179 
Mecklenburg, Pri ncess Cecilia, 

wife of ex-Crown Prince, 179, 

180 
Medjidieh, grand cordon of, 40, 

87, 244 
Medjidieh Mosque, the, 200, 201 
Meersch, Mdlle. van der, 67 



INDEX 



297 



Melba, Mde., 167 

Michaelis, Karin, writer, 267, 268 

Milan I, King of Servia, 2X1 

Millais, Sir John, 62 

Minden, 173, 174 

Mitford, Hon. John, son of Lord 

Redesdale, married daughter 

of Herr von Friedlander- 

Fuld, 131 
Mohammed V, Sultan of Turkey, 

succeeded Abdul Hamid, 248 
Moltke, General von, 106, 108, 109 
Moltke, Frau von, 106, 108, 1 1 3— 

116, 266 
Moustapha Bey, 185 
Musurus Pacha, 183 
Musurus Pacha, Etienne, Turki'sli 

Ambassador to Court of 

St. James, 242-246 
Musurus, Mde., wife of Etienne 

Musurus Pacha, daughter of 

Sir John Antoniadc, 243 

N 

Nachez, Twadar, famous violinist, 
64 

Napoleon, Prince Jerome, 32 

Naval Attache at Turkish Em- 
bassy in London, the, 2 

Naval Review at Spithcad in 1887, 
19, 20 

Nemisch, Countess, at Austrian 
Embassy in Berlin, 135 

Nicholas II, ex-Czar of Russia, 17, 
18 

Nicolini, M., husband of Mde. 
Adelina Patti, 63 

Nubar Pacha, at 1887 Jubilee, 16 

O 

" O.," Mr., Foreign Oliicc official, 
27 

O'Conor, Lady, wife of British 
Ambassador in Constantin- 
ople, 41 

Olga, Mdllc., 225, 220 

Onslow, Lord, 274 

Orleans, Princess Clementine, of, 
mother of ex-King Ferdinand 
of Bulgaria, 28 



Orloff-Davidoff, Count, 57 

Orsova, 189, 234 

Osman Nizami Pacha, Turkish 
Ambassador in Berlin, 1 6 

Ostensacken, Count, Russian Am- 
bassador in Berlin, 138, 142 

Ostensacken, Countess, 138 

Ottoman Navy, the, 2, 20 

Ottoman Treasury, the, 199 



Paget, Sir Ralph, British Minister 
in Belgrade, 281 

Pallandt, Baroness dc, 31 

Parin, artist, 240 

Pariser Platz, French Embassy in 
Berlin situated in, 137 

Patti, Mde. Adelina, 63 

Paul I, Czar of Russia, 18 

Pepys, Lady Mary, 55 

Persia, Shah of, his visit to Eng- 
land in 1887, 23 

Peter, King of Serbia, 281 

Plancon, artist, 13 

Plassy, on board the, at Naval 
Review in 1887, 20 

Plessen, General von, his conver- 
sation upon English Kings, 
142-144, 147 

Poine, Mde. Maronisma, 57 

Posadowski, Countess, wife of 
German Minister of Interior, 
105 

Potsdam, 178 

Praed, Mrs. Campbell, 30, 82 

Primrose, Lady Margaret, 62 

Primrose, Lady Sybil, 62 

" Prophet's Banner," the, in 
mosque at Eyoub, 194 

Puttkammer, Baroness Marie 
Madeleine von, poetess, 168, 
169 

Puttkammer, Frau von, 103 



R 



Racowitza, Prince, 170, i;i 
Racowitga, Princess Hel«ne, 170- 
172. 238 



U 2 



298 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 



Rabes, painter in Berlin, 236 
Ramadan, Mahomedan fast of, 

77, 78 
Rangabe, Mr., Greek Minister in 

Berlin, 153 
Rasputin, 18 
Ratibor, Princess, 161 
Ravogli, Guilia, performing at 

State concerts in London, 

13 

Recke, von der, Minister, 147 

Reouf Pacha, hero of Plevna, 
133, 216, 217, 219 

Reszke, Edouard de, 1 3 

Reuter, Baroness de, 63 

Reuter, Gabrielle, novelist, 168 

Rey, Baron, one of Napoleon's 
generals, 2 

Richthofen, Baron von, German 
Foreign Minister, 149 

Richthofen, Countess von, 149 

Riesenkamp, General de, father- 
in-law of Rifaat Pacha, 247 

Rifaat Pacha, Councillor of 
Turkish Embassy in Berlin 
and London, later Am- 
bassador in London, 92, 246, 
247 

Rifaat Pacha Mde, 247, 249, 
272 

Ripon, Marquess of, Colonial 
Secretary, 36 

Robertson, Sir J. Forbes, 167 

Roose, Dr. Robson, medical ad- 
viser to Rustem Pacha, 83 

Rosebery, Earl of, 61, 88 

Roustan, Admiral, French Naval 
Attache at Naval Review in 
1887, 20 

Rothe, Anna, flower medium 
tried for Black Art in Berlin, 
116-118 

Ruata, M. de, Spanish Ambassa- 
dor in Berlin, 138 

Ruata, Mde. de, 138 

Rubinstein, pianist, 167 

Rustem Pacha, Count Lucien 
Antoine Chimelli de Marini, 
Turkish Ambassador in 
London, 1 886-1 895 — 
his adventure with a bear, 4, 5 
as Ambassador to St. Peters- 
burg, s 



appointed Turkish Ambassador 

to London, 3 
bestows the Chefakat on author, 

4i 
career of, 3, 91, 92 
contemplates matrimony, 43, 

48, 52 
and Count Hatzfeldt, 41 
at country houses, 30, 50, 5 1 
at Court functions, 1 1 
death of, 66, 86 
declining health of, 83-86 
domestic experiences of, 57, 76 
his efforts to maintain friendly 

relations between England 

and Turkey, 84 
entertainments given by, 14, 

15 

entered Turkish service under 
Fuad Pacha, 3, 91 

eulogized by Marquess of Salis- 
bury, 87 

his friendship for M. and Mde. 
Waddington, 39 

as Governor-General of Leb- 
anon, 3, 15, 52, 206 

home life of, 1 , 4, 6, 7 

his impressions of English 
women, 52, 53 

his intimate friends, 43, 44 

last illness of, 86 

his love of young people, 55 

and " Lucien," 1, 4 

at Mansion House banquet, 
26 

at Naval Review, 19, 20 

obsequies of, 87 

official routine of, 7, 8 

origin of, 91 

powers of mind of, 6 

and Queen Victoria, 5 1 

and questions of precedence, 28, 
29 

his reminiscences, 48-50 

in Society, 47 



Sackville, Lady Mary, 55 
St. George's Church, English 
Church in Berlin, 1 36 



INDEX 



299 



St. James's Church, Spanish 
Place, funeral of Rustem 
Pacha takes place there, 88 

St. Petersburg — 

Turkish Embassy in, 8 
seances held there, 1 8 

Salisbury, late Marquess of, 14, 
28, 51, 87 

Salisbury, late Marchioness of, 10, 
14, 28, 36 

Samos, 203 

Sanderson, Sir Thomas, 88 

Sandison, Lady, wife of chief 
dragoman of British Embassy 
in Constantinople, 68, 69 

Santley, singer, performing at 
State concerts in Lodonn, 

13 
Savoy, Princess Clothilde of, 32 
Schelsinger, Frau, 111-113 
Schewitch, Baron Serge von, 

third husband of Princess 

Racowitza, 171 
Scholl, General von, 147 
Schonborn, Count, 240 
Schulz, Director, relative of Von 

Tirpitz, 100 
Schwabach, Herr, British Consul- 

General in Berlin, 129 
Schwabach, Frau Leonie, 129 
Selamlik, the, 6, 190, 200, 208, 

220 
Serge, Grand Duke, uncle and 

brother-in-law to ex-Czar 

Nicholas II, 17, 18 
Serge, Grand Duchess, Princess 

Elizabeth of Hesse, sister of 

ex-Czarina, 16, 17, 33 
Sergeant, Capt., 31 
Seymour, Capt., Queen's Mes- 
senger, 12 
Sieges Allee, in Berlin, 100 
Simonetti, Signor, violinist, 32 
Sinaia, in Roumania, 188, 189 
Sinnett, Mr., 30, 31 
Smyrna, 216 
Socialist Party in Germany, the, 

158 
Solvyns, Baron, Belgian Minister 

in London, 84 
Spencer, Lady, 68 
Spithead, Naval Review at, in 

1887, 19 



Spring-Rice, Sir Cecil, Ambas- 
sador to U.S.A., marries only 
daughter of Sir Frank Las- 
celles, 135 

Spring Rice, Lady, 104, 135 

Staal, M. de, Russian Ambassador 
in London, 88, 90 

Staal, Mde. de, Russian Ambas- 
sadress in London, 37 

Staal, Mdlle. de, 57 

Stafford House, reception at, 251 

Stamboul, schools at, 2 

Stone, Marcus, 68 

Studt, Frau, wife of German 
Minister for Education, 105 

Superstitions of Arabs, 206, 207 

Sutherland, Duchess of, 60, 251 

Synge, Mr. R., Foreign Office 
official, 89 

Szogeny, M. de, Austrian Am- 
bassador in Berlin, 135 

Szogeny, Mde. de, Austrian Am- 
bassadress in Berlin, 120, 135 



Tahir Pacha, 91 

Tahsin Pacha, first Secretary of 
Abdul Hamid, 86, 225 

Tahsin Pacha, wife of, 225, 226, 
227 

Talaat Bey, -President of Turkish 
Chamber, 273 

" Temena," the, salutation of 
ceremony, 4, 191 

Tewfik Pacha, Turkish Foreign 
Minister and Grand Vizier, 
later Turkish Ambassador to 
London, 191-193, 222, 271 

Tewfik, Mde., wife of Turkish 
Ambassador in London, 272, 
276 

Tewfik Pacha, Ahmed, Turkish- 
Ambassador in Berlin — 
admires Frau von Warmbuhler, 

177 
his dinner parties, 142-147 
endeavours to win Kaiser's 

approval, 140 
Ferid Pacha's opinion of, 221 
his fondness for painting, 236 



300 FROM AN EASTERN EMBASSY 



his friendship for prominent 

members of Military Staff in 

Berlin, 141 
home life of, 178 
his partiality for military 

methods, 140 
sent on special mission to 

Berlin, 139 
Turkish Minister in Belgrade, 

139 
Tewfik, Mdc., wife of Ahmed 

Tewfik Pacha, 140 
Tewfik, Pervine, daughter of 

Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, 140. 

178 
Tewfik, Ncssoun, daughter of 

Ahmed Tewfik Pacha, 178 
Thalia, 209 

Tome, Ludwig, playwright, 277 
Tornielli, Countess, wife of Italian 

Ambassador in London, 29- 

32 
Tosti, Signor, at Italian Embassy 

in London, 32 
Ty Mawr, country place in Welsh 

hills, 260 



V 

Valide, If amount, the, 229, 231 
Vaughan, Kate, actress, 46 
Vclics, Mdc. de, at Austrian Em- 
bassy in Berlin, 135, 154 
Vcrdy du Vernois, General von, 

147. 151 
Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 

32,9 2 

\ icloria, Queen — 
at Drawing-roonis, 10 
entertains Duchess of Aosta, 3^ 
Jubilee of in 1887, 15, 16 
lays foundation stone of Im- 
perial Institute, 21 
mandrake roots given to, 8 1 , 82 
present at garden party at 

Marlborough House, 38, 
and Rustem Pacha, 51, 86 
Victoria, Princess Royal of Eng- 
land, German Empress, 16 
Victoria, Princess, 33, 273 
Victoria Luise, Princess, 127 
Villaume, Lt.-Gen. von, 147 



W 

Wachtmeistcr, Countess, 31 
Waddington, M., French Am- 
bassador in London, 14, 15, 

39 
Waddington, Mdc., French Am- 
bassadress in London, 22, 33, 

39 
Wales, Prince of. See Edward VII 
Wales, Princess of. Sec Queen 

Alexandra 
Walford, Mrs. L. B., 68 
Wantage, Lady, 275 
Warmbiihlcr, Frau von, wife of 

.Minister for Wurtembcrg in 

Berlin, 177 
Waspy, Countess d'Aubigny's 

dog, 34 
Watson, Mr. Grant, lurkish 

Consul-General in Loudon, 

79 
Wedekind, playwright, 277 
Wedel, Count von, 147 
Werner, Anton von, artist, 236 
Westminster, Cardinal Arch- 
bishop of, at funeral of 
Rustem Pacha, 89 
Whistler, artist, 68 
White, Lady, widow of former 
British Ambassador in Berlin, 
117, 177 
Whitehead, Sir James, British 

Minister in Belgrade, 281 
William II, ex-German Em- 
peror — 
as art critic, 166, 173 
attends spiritualistic seance, 

109, 1 10 
attends wedding of ex-Crown 

Prince, 179, 180 
his bust on wall of Acropolis 

at Baalbcck, 212 
at Court functions, 122, 124 
his displeasure at popularity of 

Crown Prince, 149 
and Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 124 
festivities in Berlin on his 

birthday, 134 
godfather to son of Frau von 

Warmbiihlcr, 177 
Ins intimacy with Herr von 
Friedlandc-r-Fuld, 131 



W 



fc 



iaJ> 



- 95- 



INDEX 



301 



intimate friends of, 153 

his manner in public to Kaiserin, 
132, 133 

orders faith-healing to be pun- 
ished by law, 1 10 

his portrait painted by Princess 
Lwoff, 167 

his surprise visits to Turkish 
Embassy, 133 

his visit to England in 1891, 
36-38 
William, ex - German Crown 

Prince, 149, 179 
Woods, Sir Henry, 216 
Woods, Lady, 216 



" X," Lady, friend of Rustem 
Pacha, 49 



Yildiz Kiosk, 184 

York, Duke of. See George V 



Zuluetta, Mde. de, 20 







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